- A neuron will fire a complete impulse only once the incoming stimulation crosses its threshold, and the resulting impulse is the same strength regardless of how strong the triggering stimulus was. Which principle does this describe?
- Sensory adaptation
- The all-or-none principle
- The refractory period
- Reuptake
Correct answer: The all-or-none principle
The all-or-none principle is correct: a neuron either fires a full-strength action potential once threshold is reached or it does not fire at all, so impulse strength is fixed regardless of stimulus intensity. Stronger stimuli increase firing frequency, not the size of any single impulse.
- During an action potential, what fundamental change occurs across the neuron's membrane?
- A brief reversal of electrical charge sweeps down the axon
- The myelin sheath thickens to speed conduction
- Neurotransmitters are reabsorbed into the sending neuron
- The cell permanently loses its ability to fire
Correct answer: A brief reversal of electrical charge sweeps down the axon
A brief reversal of electrical charge sweeping down the axon is correct: an action potential is a momentary electrical charge reversal that travels along the axon when positive ions rush in. The myelin sheath does not thicken during firing, and reabsorption of neurotransmitter describes reuptake, a separate synaptic process.
- When a neuron is at rest and not firing, the inside of the axon carries a slightly negative charge relative to the outside. This stable polarized state is called the
- Action potential
- Resting potential
- Refractory period
- Absolute threshold
Correct answer: Resting potential
Resting potential is correct: it is the neuron's stable, polarized state when not firing, with the inside of the axon more negatively charged than the outside. An action potential is the firing event, and the refractory period is the recovery phase after firing.
- Immediately after a neuron fires, there is a short span during which it cannot fire again no matter how strong the next stimulus is. What is this recovery span called?
- The refractory period
- The resting potential
- The absolute threshold
- Sensory adaptation
Correct answer: The refractory period
The refractory period is correct: it is the brief recovery time after an action potential during which the neuron resets its ion balance and cannot fire again. The resting potential is the polarized at-rest state, not a temporary block on firing.
- A researcher wants to explain why a person who stubs a toe very hard feels more intense pain than someone who stubs it lightly, even though every neuron fires at the same fixed strength. The best explanation is that a stronger stimulus
- Makes each individual action potential larger
- Lengthens the refractory period of each neuron
- Raises the resting potential of the affected neurons
- Causes neurons to fire more frequently and recruits more neurons
Correct answer: Causes neurons to fire more frequently and recruits more neurons
Increased firing frequency and recruitment of more neurons is correct: because of the all-or-none principle, individual impulses are a fixed strength, so the brain reads intensity from how often neurons fire and how many fire. The size of a single action potential does not change with stimulus strength.
- Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap to carry signals from one neuron to the next are called
- Hormones
- Glial cells
- Neurotransmitters
- Myelin
Correct answer: Neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters are correct: they are the chemical messengers released into the synapse to relay signals between neurons. Hormones are chemical messengers too, but they travel through the bloodstream from glands rather than across a synapse.
- After a neuron releases neurotransmitters into the synapse, excess molecules are often reabsorbed by the sending neuron. This reabsorption process is known as
- Depolarization
- Reuptake
- The all-or-none response
- Sensory adaptation
Correct answer: Reuptake
Reuptake is correct: it is the process by which a sending neuron reabsorbs surplus neurotransmitter from the synapse after firing. Depolarization is the charge change during an action potential, not the clearing of the synapse.
- A drug blocks the reabsorption of serotonin so that more of it remains active in the synapse for a longer time. By definition, this drug interferes with
- Reuptake
- The refractory period
- The resting potential
- The myelin sheath
Correct answer: Reuptake
Reuptake is correct: blocking the reabsorption of a neurotransmitter into the sending neuron is exactly what reuptake inhibition does, leaving more serotonin available in the synapse. The refractory period and resting potential concern the firing cycle, not synaptic neurotransmitter levels.
- A neurotransmitter strongly linked to reward, pleasure, and voluntary movement, and whose loss is associated with the tremors of Parkinson's disease, is
- Serotonin
- Acetylcholine
- Dopamine
- GABA
Correct answer: Dopamine
Dopamine is correct: it is central to reward, motivation, and movement, and its depletion in certain brain regions contributes to Parkinson's tremors. Serotonin is more closely tied to mood, hunger, and sleep regulation.
- A psychiatrist notes that a patient's persistent low mood and disrupted sleep may involve too little activity of a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood, hunger, and sleep. Which neurotransmitter best fits this description?
- Serotonin
- Dopamine
- Acetylcholine
- Glutamate
Correct answer: Serotonin
Serotonin is correct: it is most closely associated with regulating mood, appetite, and sleep, and reduced serotonin activity is linked to depressed mood. Dopamine is primarily tied to reward and movement rather than this cluster of functions.
- The fatty layer of cells wrapped around many axons that speeds the transmission of neural impulses is the
- Synaptic vesicle
- Dendrite
- Myelin sheath
- Soma
Correct answer: Myelin sheath
The myelin sheath is correct: it is the fatty insulating layer around axons that increases the speed of neural transmission. Dendrites receive incoming signals and the soma is the cell body, neither of which serves this insulating, speed-boosting role.
- In multiple sclerosis, the body's immune system attacks and degrades the fatty insulation around axons. Based on the function of this insulation, the most likely direct consequence is
- Faster than normal neural communication
- Permanent inability to produce neurotransmitters
- Slowed or disrupted neural communication
- An increase in resting potential strength
Correct answer: Slowed or disrupted neural communication
Slowed or disrupted neural communication is correct: because the myelin sheath speeds impulse conduction, degrading it slows or scrambles signal transmission, producing the motor and sensory symptoms of MS. Damaging insulation would impair, not accelerate, conduction.
- Just before giving a major presentation, a student notices her heart racing, palms sweating, and breathing quickening. Which division of the nervous system is producing these arousal responses?
- The parasympathetic nervous system
- The somatic nervous system
- The central nervous system
- The sympathetic nervous system
Correct answer: The sympathetic nervous system
The sympathetic nervous system is correct: it triggers fight-or-flight arousal, raising heart rate, perspiration, and breathing to mobilize the body. The parasympathetic system does the opposite, calming the body after arousal.
- After a frightening encounter has passed, a person's heart rate slows, breathing returns to normal, and digestion resumes. This calming and energy-conserving response is governed by the
- Sympathetic nervous system
- Endocrine system
- Reticular formation
- Parasympathetic nervous system
Correct answer: Parasympathetic nervous system
The parasympathetic nervous system is correct: it produces the rest-and-digest response, slowing heart rate and restoring normal functions after arousal. The sympathetic system instead activates the body for action during stress.
- Together, the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions make up which part of the nervous system?
- The autonomic nervous system
- The somatic nervous system
- The central nervous system
- The peripheral sensory system
Correct answer: The autonomic nervous system
The autonomic nervous system is correct: it controls involuntary functions and is divided into the arousing sympathetic and calming parasympathetic branches. The somatic system instead controls voluntary skeletal muscle movement.
- The body's slow chemical communication system, which uses glands to release hormones into the bloodstream, is the
- Central nervous system
- Limbic system
- Somatic nervous system
- Endocrine system
Correct answer: Endocrine system
The endocrine system is correct: it communicates by secreting hormones from glands into the bloodstream, a slower but longer-lasting form of regulation than neural signaling. The central nervous system communicates rapidly through neurons rather than hormones.
- A student is surprised that the effects of adrenaline released during fear can linger long after the scare has ended. The best explanation is that hormones from glands
- Are reabsorbed instantly through reuptake
- Are released directly across synapses to nearby neurons
- Travel through the bloodstream and act more slowly and lastingly than neural signals
- Act faster than neural impulses but fade immediately
Correct answer: Travel through the bloodstream and act more slowly and lastingly than neural signals
Traveling through the bloodstream with slower, longer-lasting effects is correct: the endocrine system releases hormones into the blood, so they act more gradually and persist longer than rapid neural messages. Synaptic release and reuptake describe neuron-to-neuron signaling, not hormonal action.
- A set of interconnected brain structures involved in emotions and memory, including the amygdala and hippocampus, is collectively known as the
- Cerebellum
- Brainstem
- Limbic system
- Corpus callosum
Correct answer: Limbic system
The limbic system is correct: it is the group of structures tied to emotion and memory that includes the amygdala and hippocampus. The cerebellum coordinates balance and movement, not emotional processing.
- Researchers electrically stimulate a small almond-shaped structure in a lab animal and observe sudden aggressive and fearful reactions. The structure they most likely stimulated is the
- Hippocampus
- Amygdala
- Cerebellum
- Medulla
Correct answer: Amygdala
The amygdala is correct: this almond-shaped limbic structure is central to processing fear and aggression, so stimulating it commonly triggers those reactions. The hippocampus is mainly involved in forming memories rather than generating fear responses.
- A patient suffers damage to the hippocampus and afterward struggles to form new long-term memories of recent events. This outcome reflects the hippocampus's primary role in
- Processing the formation of new memories
- Coordinating fine motor movements
- Regulating heartbeat and breathing
- Generating fear and aggression
Correct answer: Processing the formation of new memories
Processing the formation of new memories is correct: the hippocampus is essential for encoding new explicit memories, so its damage impairs forming new long-term memories. Regulating heartbeat and breathing is handled by the medulla in the brainstem.
- Two limbic structures are commonly contrasted on the AP Psychology exam. Which pairing correctly matches each structure to its main role?
- Amygdala: memory formation; Hippocampus: fear
- Amygdala: fear and emotion; Hippocampus: memory formation
- Amygdala: balance; Hippocampus: hunger
- Amygdala: hunger; Hippocampus: language
Correct answer: Amygdala: fear and emotion; Hippocampus: memory formation
Amygdala for fear and emotion with hippocampus for memory formation is correct: the amygdala drives emotional responses like fear, while the hippocampus is key to forming new memories. The reversed pairing mislabels each structure's well-established function.
- Twin and adoption studies are most useful to psychologists because they help researchers
- Measure absolute thresholds for the senses
- Separate the relative influences of heredity and environment on behavior
- Identify which neurotransmitter a behavior uses
- Map the stages of REM sleep
Correct answer: Separate the relative influences of heredity and environment on behavior
Separating the relative influences of heredity and environment is correct: twin and adoption studies are the central tools for examining the nature versus nurture question by comparing people with differing genetic and environmental overlap. They are not designed to measure sensory thresholds or sleep stages.
- Contemporary psychologists generally agree that traits such as intelligence and personality arise from
- Genetics alone, with environment playing no role
- Environment alone, with genetics playing no role
- An interaction of both heredity and environment
- Random chance unrelated to genes or experience
Correct answer: An interaction of both heredity and environment
An interaction of both heredity and environment is correct: the modern consensus on nature versus nurture is that genes and experiences continually interact to shape traits. Attributing complex traits entirely to genes or entirely to environment oversimplifies decades of research.
- A traveler flies from New York to Tokyo and for several days feels alert at the wrong times and sleepy during the day. The biological clock most directly disrupted is the
- Refractory period
- Absolute threshold
- Circadian rhythm
- Resting potential
Correct answer: Circadian rhythm
The circadian rhythm is correct: it is the roughly 24-hour biological clock governing sleep and wakefulness, and crossing time zones throws it out of sync, causing jet lag. The other options describe neural firing or sensory threshold concepts unrelated to daily sleep cycles.
- The circadian rhythm is best described as a biological cycle that operates on roughly a
- 24-hour period
- 90-minute period
- 7-day period
- 28-day period
Correct answer: 24-hour period
A 24-hour period is correct: the circadian rhythm is the body's daily biological clock that follows an approximately 24-hour cycle of sleep and wakefulness. The roughly 90-minute period instead describes the recurring cycle through the stages of sleep, not the circadian rhythm itself.
- During which stage of sleep are vivid dreams most common, the eyes dart rapidly behind closed lids, and the body's voluntary muscles are largely paralyzed?
- REM sleep
- NREM Stage 1
- NREM Stage 3
- The hypnagogic state
Correct answer: REM sleep
REM sleep is correct: it features rapid eye movements, vivid dreaming, and near-paralysis of the voluntary muscles. NREM Stage 3 is deep slow-wave sleep without the rapid eye movements and intense dreaming that define REM.
- A sleep researcher records a participant cycling through light sleep, deep slow-wave sleep, and then a stage with rapid eye movements, repeating this pattern several times overnight. The recurring stage with rapid eye movements is significant because it is most associated with
- The deepest, most restorative slow-wave sleep
- Vivid dreaming and memory consolidation
- The moment of first falling asleep
- Complete wakefulness
Correct answer: Vivid dreaming and memory consolidation
Vivid dreaming and memory consolidation is correct: REM sleep, marked by rapid eye movements, is the stage most linked to vivid dreams and consolidating learning. The deepest restorative sleep occurs in NREM Stage 3, a separate stage without rapid eye movements.
- When you first put on a watch you feel it on your wrist, but within minutes you no longer notice the sensation. This diminishing response to a constant, unchanging stimulus is called
- The absolute threshold
- Reuptake
- The all-or-none principle
- Sensory adaptation
Correct answer: Sensory adaptation
Sensory adaptation is correct: it is the reduced sensitivity to a constant, unchanging stimulus, such as no longer feeling a watch after a while. The absolute threshold instead refers to the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus, not a decline in response over time.
- Sensory adaptation is generally considered adaptive because it allows organisms to
- Detect the very faintest possible stimuli at all times
- Permanently lose the ability to detect a stimulus
- Speed up neural transmission along the axon
- Focus attention on changing or novel stimuli rather than constant background ones
Correct answer: Focus attention on changing or novel stimuli rather than constant background ones
Focusing attention on changing or novel stimuli is correct: by reducing responsiveness to unchanging input, sensory adaptation frees attention for new or shifting information that is more likely to matter. It does not heighten detection of the faintest stimuli, which relates instead to the absolute threshold.
- The minimum amount of stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time is known as the
- Absolute threshold
- Difference threshold
- Refractory period
- Sensory adaptation point
Correct answer: Absolute threshold
The absolute threshold is correct: it is the smallest level of stimulus energy a person can detect half the time. The difference threshold instead refers to the smallest detectable difference between two stimuli, not the minimum needed for detection at all.
- A hearing specialist determines the faintest tone a client can hear half of the time it is presented. The specialist is measuring the client's
- Circadian rhythm
- Resting potential
- Absolute threshold
- Limbic activity
Correct answer: Absolute threshold
Absolute threshold is correct: identifying the faintest stimulus detectable 50 percent of the time is the definition of measuring an absolute threshold. The other options refer to a sleep cycle, a neuron's at-rest charge, and emotion-related brain activity, none of which describe sensory detection limits.
- A neuroscientist observes that an axon with damaged insulation conducts impulses more slowly than a healthy one. Combining this observation with the all-or-none principle, the scientist should conclude that the damage affects
- The size of each individual action potential
- Whether neurotransmitters are produced
- The absolute threshold of the senses
- The speed of impulse conduction but not the strength of each impulse
Correct answer: The speed of impulse conduction but not the strength of each impulse
Affecting speed but not impulse strength is correct: the myelin sheath governs conduction speed, while the all-or-none principle holds that every impulse fires at a fixed full strength. Therefore, damaged insulation slows transmission without changing how strong each action potential is.
- Why might stimulating a person's amygdala produce a strong emotional reaction while stimulating the hippocampus does not, even though both are limbic structures?
- The two structures are located in entirely different lobes with no shared functions
- The structures within the limbic system are specialized, with the amygdala tied to emotion and the hippocampus to memory
- The hippocampus controls voluntary movement rather than any mental process
- Both structures handle identical functions, so the result is simply random
Correct answer: The structures within the limbic system are specialized, with the amygdala tied to emotion and the hippocampus to memory
Specialization within the limbic system is correct: although both belong to the limbic system, the amygdala specializes in emotion such as fear while the hippocampus specializes in forming memories. This division of labor explains why stimulating each yields different effects.
- Why does a stimulant drug that blocks dopamine reuptake tend to intensify feelings of reward and pleasure?
- It destroys the myelin sheath, speeding all signals
- It leaves more dopamine active in the synapse to keep stimulating receiving neurons
- It lowers the absolute threshold for all senses
- It shortens the neuron's refractory period permanently
Correct answer: It leaves more dopamine active in the synapse to keep stimulating receiving neurons
Leaving more dopamine active in the synapse is correct: blocking reuptake prevents reabsorption of dopamine, so the reward-related neurotransmitter lingers and keeps stimulating receiving neurons, heightening pleasure. This concerns synaptic neurotransmitter levels, not myelin or sensory thresholds.
- Neurons communicate with one another primarily through which combination of signals?
- Hormones released into the bloodstream from glands
- Only mechanical pressure passed from cell to cell
- Light energy converted directly into thoughts
- Electrical impulses within neurons and chemical messengers between them
Correct answer: Electrical impulses within neurons and chemical messengers between them
Electrical impulses within neurons and chemical messengers between them is correct: a neuron fires an electrical action potential down its axon, then releases chemical neurotransmitters across the synapse to the next neuron. Hormones in the bloodstream describe endocrine signaling, a slower system separate from neuron-to-neuron communication.
- A graphic designer arranges six identical icons into two tight clusters of three, separated by a wide blank space, and viewers immediately perceive two groups rather than six separate icons. This grouping based on how close the elements sit to one another reflects which Gestalt principle?
- Similarity
- Closure
- Proximity
- Figure-ground
Correct answer: Proximity
Proximity is correct: the Gestalt principle of proximity states that elements positioned near one another are perceived as belonging to the same group, so the two spaced clusters read as two groups. Similarity instead groups elements that share a feature such as color or shape, not those that are merely close together.
- An art instructor explains that the human mind tends to organize visual scenes into a main object and a surrounding backdrop, which is why a coffee cup on a table is seen as standing out against the table. The principle the instructor is describing is
- Figure-ground
- Continuity
- Proximity
- Similarity
Correct answer: Figure-ground
Figure-ground is correct: it is the Gestalt principle by which the perceptual field is divided into an object of attention, the figure, and the background against which it appears, the ground. Continuity instead refers to perceiving interrupted lines or shapes as flowing in a single smooth direction.
- A study compares two perceptual approaches: one in which a person assembles a scene strictly from incoming light, color, and edges with no expectations, and another in which prior knowledge guides interpretation. The first, purely data-driven approach is best labeled
- Top-down processing
- Bottom-up processing
- The framing effect
- A mental set
Correct answer: Bottom-up processing
Bottom-up processing is correct: it constructs perception from the raw sensory features themselves, building upward without reliance on prior expectations. Top-down processing instead uses stored knowledge and expectations to interpret incoming sensations, which is the opposite direction.
- An experienced air traffic controller glances at a cluttered radar screen and instantly interprets faint blips as specific aircraft because years of training shape what she expects to see. Her perception being guided by prior knowledge and expectations best illustrates
- Bottom-up processing
- Chunking
- Top-down processing
- The spacing effect
Correct answer: Top-down processing
Top-down processing is correct: it draws on existing knowledge, context, and expectations to interpret ambiguous sensory input, as the controller's training shapes how she reads the blips. Bottom-up processing instead builds perception only from the raw sensory data without such guiding expectations.
- Which pair correctly matches each type of processing to the direction in which it works?
- Bottom-up begins with raw sensation; top-down begins with knowledge and expectations
- Bottom-up begins with expectations; top-down begins with raw sensation
- Both begin with stored knowledge and expectations
- Both begin with raw, unprocessed sensory data
Correct answer: Bottom-up begins with raw sensation; top-down begins with knowledge and expectations
Bottom-up beginning with raw sensation and top-down beginning with knowledge is correct: bottom-up processing is data-driven, building from incoming features, while top-down processing applies prior knowledge and expectations to interpret input. Reversing these labels misstates the defining direction of each process.
- A cashier easily holds a customer's verbal confirmation number in mind by silently repeating it over and over until she finishes typing it. In the working memory model, the component responsible for this silent rehearsal of verbal information is the
- Visuospatial sketchpad
- Central executive
- Phonological loop
- Episodic buffer
Correct answer: Phonological loop
The phonological loop is correct: in the working memory model it temporarily stores and rehearses verbal and acoustic information, such as silently repeating a number. The visuospatial sketchpad instead handles visual and spatial material like images and locations, not verbal rehearsal.
- A driver mentally pictures the layout of a parking garage and rotates the image to figure out which ramp leads to the exit. According to the working memory model, this manipulation of a visual image relies most directly on the
- Phonological loop
- Visuospatial sketchpad
- Central executive
- Long-term store
Correct answer: Visuospatial sketchpad
The visuospatial sketchpad is correct: in the working memory model it holds and manipulates visual and spatial information, such as a mentally rotated map of a garage. The phonological loop instead manages verbal and acoustic material like silently repeating words, not spatial imagery.
- When given a list of 18 errands to remember and then asked to recall them in any order immediately afterward, a person reliably recalls the errands named last more accurately than those named in the middle. The strong recall of the most recently heard items is specifically called the
- Recency effect
- Primacy effect
- Spacing effect
- Framing effect
Correct answer: Recency effect
The recency effect is correct: it explains superior recall of the final items in a list because they remain active in short-term memory at the moment of recall. The primacy effect instead accounts for the strong recall of the earliest items, which receive more rehearsal into long-term memory.
- A speaker delivering a list of ten product features notices that listeners later remember the first few features unusually well, in part because those early features were rehearsed the most. This advantage for the earliest items is known as the
- Primacy effect
- Recency effect
- Misinformation effect
- Availability heuristic
Correct answer: Primacy effect
The primacy effect is correct: it is the superior recall of items at the beginning of a list, attributed to their having more opportunity to be rehearsed into long-term memory. The recency effect instead explains the strong recall of the final items, which are still active in short-term memory at recall.
- A language tutor advises a student to study new German vocabulary in fifteen-minute blocks across two weeks rather than in a single three-hour marathon, even though total study time is identical. Memory research predicts the spread-out schedule will lead to
- Weaker retention because each session is too brief
- Identical retention since the total minutes match
- Stronger retention only if the words are emotionally charged
- Stronger long-term retention because of the spacing effect
Correct answer: Stronger long-term retention because of the spacing effect
Stronger long-term retention because of the spacing effect is correct: distributing practice across many sessions produces more durable learning than massing the same amount into one block. Equal total time does not equalize results, because cramming yields weaker lasting memory than spaced practice.
- A computer technician remembers a long sixteen-character license key by breaking it into four familiar four-character groups rather than holding each character separately. This strategy of repackaging items into a few meaningful units is called
- The recency effect
- Chunking
- Encoding specificity
- Proactive interference
Correct answer: Chunking
Chunking is correct: it is the strategy of grouping separate items into larger meaningful units so that limited short-term memory can effectively hold more. The recency effect only explains why the most recently presented items are recalled well, not the grouping technique the technician uses.
- A researcher reports that participants who learned a poem in a quiet, lavender-scented room recalled it best when tested again in that same scented room. The improved recall when retrieval conditions match learning conditions best illustrates
- Proactive interference
- The spacing effect
- Functional fixedness
- Encoding specificity
Correct answer: Encoding specificity
Encoding specificity is correct: retrieval improves when cues and conditions present at recall, such as the lavender scent, match those present during encoding. Proactive interference instead refers to older learning disrupting the recall of newer information, not the matching of contexts.
- A pianist who spent years memorizing classical pieces now struggles to learn new jazz arrangements because the long-practiced classical patterns keep intruding. This difficulty, in which earlier learning disrupts new learning, is an example of
- Proactive interference
- The recency effect
- Retroactive interference
- Encoding specificity
Correct answer: Proactive interference
Proactive interference is correct: it occurs when previously learned material, the classical patterns, disrupts the acquisition and recall of newer material, the jazz arrangements. Retroactive interference is the opposite direction, in which newly learned material disrupts the recall of older material.
- After spending a month memorizing a new set of customer account numbers, a clerk discovers she can no longer recall the account numbers she used the previous year. This forgetting, in which new learning disrupts older memories, illustrates
- Proactive interference
- The spacing effect
- Retroactive interference
- Chunking
Correct answer: Retroactive interference
Retroactive interference is correct: it occurs when recently learned information, the new account numbers, interferes with the retrieval of previously stored information, the old numbers. Proactive interference would instead involve the older numbers hindering the learning of the new ones.
- A few weeks after attending a concert, a fan is repeatedly told by friends that the band opened with a particular song, and she gradually 'remembers' that opening even though a different song was actually played first. This reshaping of memory by inaccurate information supplied after the event demonstrates the
- Serial position effect
- Encoding specificity principle
- Representativeness heuristic
- Misinformation effect
Correct answer: Misinformation effect
The misinformation effect is correct: misleading information introduced after an event can alter a person's memory of that event, as the friends' false claim created a memory of the wrong opening song. The serial position effect instead concerns recall based on an item's place in a list, unrelated to post-event memory distortion.
- A new manager assumes that violent crime is rising sharply in her city because graphic local news reports of assaults are vivid and easy to recall, even though official statistics show crime is falling. Her overestimate, driven by how readily examples come to mind, reflects the
- Representativeness heuristic
- Confirmation bias
- Framing effect
- Availability heuristic
Correct answer: Availability heuristic
The availability heuristic is correct: it leads people to estimate the frequency of events by how easily vivid examples come to mind, so memorable news reports inflate the perceived crime rate. The representativeness heuristic instead judges probability by similarity to a prototype, not by ease of recall.
- A recruiter is told that a candidate is timid, tidy, and loves arranging things in order, and she immediately guesses the candidate is a librarian rather than a delivery driver, ignoring that delivery drivers are far more numerous. This judgment, based on fit to a stereotype while neglecting base rates, reflects the
- Availability heuristic
- Framing effect
- Confirmation bias
- Representativeness heuristic
Correct answer: Representativeness heuristic
The representativeness heuristic is correct: it leads people to judge probability by how closely a case matches a stereotype, causing them to overlook base rates such as the larger number of delivery drivers. The availability heuristic instead relies on how easily examples come to mind, not on resemblance to a prototype.
- A blogger who is convinced a new diet works tracks down only success stories that praise it and scrolls past the studies and reviews reporting that it failed. This habit of seeking and emphasizing evidence that supports an existing belief illustrates
- The availability heuristic
- The framing effect
- Confirmation bias
- Functional fixedness
Correct answer: Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is correct: it is the tendency to seek out and favor evidence that supports a preexisting belief while discounting contradictory evidence. The availability heuristic instead concerns estimating frequency by ease of recall, not the selective pursuit of belief-consistent evidence.
- A marketing team finds that a sunscreen sells far better when labeled 'blocks 97 percent of harmful rays' than when an identical product is labeled 'lets through 3 percent of harmful rays.' This shift in buying based purely on the wording demonstrates the
- Availability heuristic
- Framing effect
- Misinformation effect
- Representativeness heuristic
Correct answer: Framing effect
The framing effect is correct: presenting equivalent information in a positive versus negative light changes people's choices, as the protective wording makes the identical sunscreen more appealing. The availability heuristic concerns estimating likelihood by ease of recall, not how the wording of equivalent options sways a decision.
- Stranded with a flat tire and no jack handle, a motorist fails to realize that a sturdy metal pipe in the trunk could turn the jack, because he thinks of the pipe only as plumbing material. This barrier, perceiving an object as useful only for its usual purpose, is
- A mental set
- Confirmation bias
- Retroactive interference
- Functional fixedness
Correct answer: Functional fixedness
Functional fixedness is correct: it is the tendency to see an object as useful only for its customary function, blocking the recognition of a novel use such as a pipe turning a jack. A mental set instead refers to relying on a familiar problem-solving strategy, not to limiting how a single object can be used.
- A programmer who always debugs code by adding print statements keeps using that same method on a new project where a built-in debugging tool would solve the problem far faster. This persistence with a previously successful approach despite a better option is
- Functional fixedness
- The availability heuristic
- Retroactive interference
- A mental set
Correct answer: A mental set
A mental set is correct: it is the tendency to approach a problem with a strategy that has worked in the past, even when a more effective method is available. Functional fixedness instead specifically involves seeing an object only in terms of its usual function, not persisting with a habitual problem-solving strategy.
- A 68-year-old retired accountant takes much longer than she once did to figure out an unfamiliar logic puzzle under time pressure, yet she still effortlessly recalls decades of tax rules and financial terms. The slowing she shows in reasoning through brand-new problems reflects a decline in
- Fluid intelligence
- Crystallized intelligence
- The recency effect
- Working memory span
Correct answer: Fluid intelligence
Fluid intelligence is correct: it is the ability to reason quickly and solve novel problems independent of prior knowledge, and it typically declines with age. Crystallized intelligence, her accumulated tax rules and financial terms, tends to remain strong or grow with age and is not what is declining here.
- A 72-year-old retired editor continues to win trivia tournaments because her enormous store of vocabulary, facts, and accumulated knowledge has only deepened with age. This stable, knowledge-based form of intelligence is called
- Crystallized intelligence
- The Flynn effect
- Fluid intelligence
- Working memory
Correct answer: Crystallized intelligence
Crystallized intelligence is correct: it is the accumulated knowledge, vocabulary, and skills built through experience and education, which tend to remain strong or increase with age. Fluid intelligence instead refers to flexible reasoning on novel problems, which generally declines later in life.
- A test publisher discovers that an intelligence test normed decades ago now seems too easy, as today's takers consistently outscore the original sample, forcing the publisher to re-norm the test to keep the average at 100. This steady generational rise in measured intelligence is the
- G factor
- Yerkes-Dodson law
- Flynn effect
- Spacing effect
Correct answer: Flynn effect
The Flynn effect is correct: it names the steady generation-over-generation increase in average intelligence test scores, which makes older norms outdated and forces periodic re-norming. The g factor instead refers to a proposed general intelligence ability, not to the upward drift in scores across generations.
- A psychologist points out that within the same person, scores on vocabulary, spatial reasoning, and arithmetic tasks tend to rise and fall together, suggesting a shared underlying mental ability. This observation most directly supports the concept of
- General intelligence, the g factor
- Fluid versus crystallized intelligence
- The Flynn effect
- The availability heuristic
Correct answer: General intelligence, the g factor
General intelligence, the g factor, is correct: it is inferred from the positive correlation of performance across diverse cognitive tasks, implying one shared underlying ability. The Flynn effect instead describes the generational rise in test scores, not the clustering of abilities within a single person.
- A perception researcher wants to demonstrate the Gestalt principle of similarity rather than proximity. The clearest demonstration would be participants who
- Perceive a broken outline of a triangle as a complete triangle
- Group all the red dots together and all the blue dots together within an evenly spaced grid
- See a vase stand out clearly against its background
- Perceive a row of dashes as one continuous curving line
Correct answer: Group all the red dots together and all the blue dots together within an evenly spaced grid
Grouping the red dots and blue dots separately within an evenly spaced grid is correct: the Gestalt principle of similarity groups elements that share a feature such as color, and even spacing rules out proximity as the cause. Perceiving a broken outline as a complete triangle illustrates closure, not similarity.
- A study skills expert recommends that, to remember a list of 20 facts for a test, students give the items in the middle of the list extra review because those items are usually recalled most poorly. The expert's advice is based directly on the
- Serial position effect
- Framing effect
- Encoding specificity principle
- Availability heuristic
Correct answer: Serial position effect
The serial position effect is correct: it predicts that items at the start and end of a list are recalled better than those in the middle, so the middle items most need extra review. The framing effect concerns how the wording of options sways decisions, not the pattern of recall across a list.
- Which of the following best illustrates the misinformation effect rather than ordinary forgetting?
- A witness simply cannot remember what color shirt the suspect wore
- A witness, after a leading question implying a weapon, confidently recalls a gun that was never present
- A student forgets a vocabulary word he never rehearsed
- A person mixes up two phone numbers learned on the same day
Correct answer: A witness, after a leading question implying a weapon, confidently recalls a gun that was never present
Confidently recalling a gun after a leading question that implied one is correct: the misinformation effect occurs when misleading post-event information actively distorts a memory, creating a recollection of something that never happened. Simply failing to remember a shirt color reflects ordinary forgetting, not the implantation of a false detail.
- A debate coach wants students to retain argument structures for a tournament three months away. Drawing on memory research, the most effective recommendation is to
- Have students reread all the structures once the night before
- Tell students to study only the first and last structures
- Schedule brief practice sessions distributed across the three months
- Advise students to study only when they feel confident
Correct answer: Schedule brief practice sessions distributed across the three months
Scheduling brief practice sessions distributed across the three months is correct: the spacing effect shows that distributing study across time produces stronger long-term retention than massing it together. Rereading everything the night before relies on cramming, which yields weaker durable memory than spaced review.
- A lottery player keeps buying tickets because televised winners are dramatic and instantly come to mind, leaving him convinced his chances are far higher than the actual odds. A psychologist would most likely attribute his inflated estimate to the
- Representativeness heuristic
- Availability heuristic
- Framing effect
- Encoding specificity
Correct answer: Availability heuristic
The availability heuristic is correct: estimating the likelihood of an event by how easily vivid examples come to mind leads the player to overrate his odds because winners are so memorable. The representativeness heuristic instead judges probability by similarity to a prototype, not by ease of recall.
- A riddle asks people to attach a candle to a wall using only a box of tacks and matches, and most fail because they see the tack box only as a container, not as a possible shelf. Their inability to repurpose the box best illustrates
- A mental set
- The framing effect
- Functional fixedness
- Encoding specificity
Correct answer: Functional fixedness
Functional fixedness is correct: it is the tendency to perceive an object as useful only for its customary purpose, blocking recognition that the tack box could serve as a shelf. A mental set instead refers to relying on a familiar problem-solving strategy, not to limiting how a single object can be used.
- A psychologist contrasts the working memory model with the older idea of short-term memory as a passive storage bin. The key advance emphasized by the working memory model is that this stage of memory
- Has essentially unlimited capacity
- Actively coordinates and manipulates information rather than merely holding it
- Stores information permanently without any rehearsal
- Functions only while a person is asleep
Correct answer: Actively coordinates and manipulates information rather than merely holding it
Actively coordinating and manipulating information is correct: the working memory model reframes short-term memory as an active workspace, with a central executive directing subsystems rather than a bin that only stores. Working memory is limited in capacity, so essentially unlimited capacity is incorrect.
- A debate judge who already believes one team is superior interprets that team's vague rebuttal as brilliant while dismissing the opposing team's strong points as luck. A psychologist reviewing the scoring would most likely identify the judge's reasoning as distorted by
- The framing effect
- The availability heuristic
- Confirmation bias
- Encoding specificity
Correct answer: Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is correct: selectively interpreting ambiguous evidence as supporting a prior belief while discounting contradictory evidence is the defining feature of confirmation bias. The framing effect instead concerns how the wording of options sways decisions, not the selective weighing of evidence to fit an existing belief.
- A sommelier with thirty years of experience can name a wine's region, grape, and vintage from memory because of the vast specialized knowledge she has built over her career, even though she now learns new tasting software more slowly than before. Her deep store of accumulated wine knowledge best reflects her
- Fluid intelligence
- Working memory span
- The Flynn effect
- Crystallized intelligence
Correct answer: Crystallized intelligence
Crystallized intelligence is correct: it is the accumulated knowledge, vocabulary, and specialized skills built through years of experience, which tend to remain strong or grow with age. Fluid intelligence instead refers to flexible reasoning on novel tasks, such as learning unfamiliar software, which tends to decline.
- A teacher tells students that the best way to remember a set of related terms is to organize them into a few labeled categories rather than treating each term as an isolated item. By packaging many items into a small number of meaningful groups, the teacher is recommending
- The spacing effect
- Encoding specificity
- The recency effect
- Chunking
Correct answer: Chunking
Chunking is correct: it is the strategy of grouping separate items into larger meaningful units so that limited short-term memory can effectively hold more. The spacing effect instead concerns spreading study sessions over time, not grouping items into categories.
- According to Piaget's theory, in which order does a child progress through the stages of cognitive development?
- Preoperational, sensorimotor, formal operational, concrete operational
- Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
- Concrete operational, sensorimotor, preoperational, formal operational
- Formal operational, concrete operational, preoperational, sensorimotor
Correct answer: Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational is correct: Piaget proposed that children advance through these four stages in a fixed sequence, beginning with sensory-motor exploration and ending with abstract reasoning. The other sequences scramble this order and misrepresent Piaget's developmental progression.
- A 14-year-old can now reason about hypothetical situations, think abstractly, and consider 'what if' possibilities. According to Piaget, the adolescent has most likely entered which stage of cognitive development?
- Formal operational stage
- Preoperational stage
- Concrete operational stage
- Sensorimotor stage
Correct answer: Formal operational stage
The formal operational stage is correct: Piaget held that beginning around adolescence, children gain the capacity for abstract and hypothetical reasoning. The concrete operational stage allows logical thought about concrete events but not yet systematic reasoning about abstract possibilities.
- A caregiver hides a toy under a blanket while a 5-month-old watches, and the infant immediately loses interest as if the toy no longer exists. The infant has not yet developed
- Conservation
- Object permanence
- A secure attachment
- The g factor
Correct answer: Object permanence
Object permanence is correct: it is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, a milestone Piaget placed in the sensorimotor stage. Conservation is a later concrete-operational achievement about quantity remaining constant despite changes in appearance, not about hidden objects.
- The awareness that an object still exists even when it is out of sight is called
- Object permanence
- Conservation
- Assimilation
- Egocentrism
Correct answer: Object permanence
Object permanence is correct: it is the developing infant's understanding that things continue to exist when hidden from view. Conservation instead refers to recognizing that a quantity stays the same despite a change in its container or shape, a separate later milestone.
- A toddler who has learned the word 'dog' for the family pet sees a cat for the first time and calls it a 'dog,' fitting the new animal into an existing mental category. According to Piaget, this is an example of
- Accommodation
- Object permanence
- Conservation
- Assimilation
Correct answer: Assimilation
Assimilation is correct: it is the process of interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas, as the toddler stretches the 'dog' schema to include a cat. Accommodation would instead involve adjusting or creating a new schema to recognize the cat as a different kind of animal.
- A child who once called every four-legged animal a 'dog' learns to tell dogs and cats apart and adjusts her mental categories to include a separate 'cat' schema. According to Piaget, this adjustment of existing schemas to fit new information is called
- Assimilation
- Spontaneous recovery
- Accommodation
- Conservation
Correct answer: Accommodation
Accommodation is correct: it is the modification of existing schemas, or the creation of new ones, to incorporate information that does not fit, as the child builds a distinct 'cat' category. Assimilation, by contrast, fits new experiences into existing schemas without changing them.
- Assimilation and accommodation differ in that assimilation
- Changes schemas to fit new information, while accommodation fits new information into existing schemas
- Fits new information into existing mental schemas, while accommodation changes schemas to fit new information
- Occurs only in adolescence, while accommodation occurs only in infancy
- Involves memory storage, while accommodation involves memory retrieval
Correct answer: Fits new information into existing mental schemas, while accommodation changes schemas to fit new information
Assimilation fitting new information into existing schemas while accommodation changes schemas is correct: assimilation incorporates experiences into current frameworks, whereas accommodation revises those frameworks to handle information that does not fit. The reversed description mislabels the two complementary Piagetian processes.
- A 4-year-old watches as juice is poured from a short, wide glass into a tall, narrow glass and insists the tall glass now has 'more' juice, even though no juice was added. The child has not yet mastered
- Conservation
- Object permanence
- Secure attachment
- Spontaneous recovery
Correct answer: Conservation
Conservation is correct: it is the understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or appearance, which children typically grasp in the concrete operational stage. Object permanence is an earlier milestone about hidden objects continuing to exist, not about quantity staying constant.
- In Piaget's theory, conservation refers to a child's understanding that
- Objects continue to exist when out of sight
- Other people can have a different point of view
- The quantity of a substance stays the same despite changes in its shape or container
- Behaviors followed by rewards are repeated
Correct answer: The quantity of a substance stays the same despite changes in its shape or container
Quantity staying the same despite changes in shape or container is correct: conservation is the recognition that properties like volume or number remain constant even when appearance changes. Objects continuing to exist when out of sight describes object permanence, a different and earlier milestone.
- A teacher provides just enough hints and support to help a student solve a problem the student could not yet solve alone but can manage with guidance. According to Vygotsky, the teacher is working within the student's
- Zone of proximal development
- Sensorimotor stage
- Refractory period
- Secure base
Correct answer: Zone of proximal development
The zone of proximal development is correct: Vygotsky defined it as the gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance, the ideal range for instruction. The sensorimotor stage is one of Piaget's stages and does not describe this guided-learning range.
- Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development is best described as the range between
- Birth and the onset of formal operational thought
- The absolute threshold and the difference threshold
- What a learner can do independently and what they can do with help from a more skilled person
- Positive and negative reinforcement
Correct answer: What a learner can do independently and what they can do with help from a more skilled person
The gap between independent ability and assisted ability is correct: the zone of proximal development identifies tasks just beyond a learner's solo reach but achievable with support, where learning is most effective. The other options describe sensory thresholds and operant conditioning concepts unrelated to Vygotsky's idea.
- In Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation, an infant who explores a room while the caregiver is present, becomes distressed when the caregiver leaves, and is readily comforted upon the caregiver's return is displaying
- Avoidant attachment
- Anxious attachment
- Secure attachment
- Disorganized attachment
Correct answer: Secure attachment
Secure attachment is correct: securely attached infants use the caregiver as a base for exploration, show distress at separation, and are easily soothed upon reunion. Avoidant attachment is instead marked by little distress at separation and indifference when the caregiver returns.
- The enduring emotional bond that forms between an infant and a primary caregiver is referred to as
- Egocentrism
- Conservation
- Shaping
- Attachment
Correct answer: Attachment
Attachment is correct: it is the deep, lasting emotional connection an infant forms with a caregiver, a central focus of social-emotional development research. Conservation is a Piagetian cognitive milestone about quantity and is unrelated to the caregiver bond.
- In Harry Harlow's experiments, infant monkeys spent far more time clinging to a soft cloth surrogate than to a wire surrogate that provided food. These findings most directly demonstrated that attachment is driven largely by
- The satisfaction of hunger alone
- The development of object permanence
- Classical conditioning of feeding cues
- Contact comfort rather than just nourishment
Correct answer: Contact comfort rather than just nourishment
Contact comfort rather than just nourishment is correct: Harlow's monkeys preferred the comforting cloth mother even though the wire mother provided food, showing that bodily comfort underlies attachment more than feeding. The result specifically challenged the idea that attachment forms simply because a caregiver supplies food.
- A toddler shows little distress when the caregiver leaves and avoids or ignores the caregiver upon return, while another toddler is intensely distressed at separation but cannot be soothed at reunion. These two patterns are best classified as
- Avoidant and anxious forms of insecure attachment
- Both forms of secure attachment
- Examples of object permanence
- Stages in Erikson's theory
Correct answer: Avoidant and anxious forms of insecure attachment
Avoidant and anxious forms of insecure attachment is correct: avoidant infants ignore the caregiver and anxious infants are distressed yet not comforted, both reflecting insecure rather than secure attachment. Secure attachment instead involves distress at separation paired with easy comforting at reunion.
- According to Erik Erikson, the psychosocial crisis faced during infancy, shaped largely by responsive caregiving, is
- Identity versus role confusion
- Industry versus inferiority
- Integrity versus despair
- Trust versus mistrust
Correct answer: Trust versus mistrust
Trust versus mistrust is correct: Erikson placed this as the first psychosocial stage of infancy, in which consistent, responsive care fosters a basic sense of trust. Identity versus role confusion is the adolescent stage, not the infant stage, in Erikson's theory.
- An adolescent experiments with different values, beliefs, and roles while trying to figure out who she really is. According to Erikson, she is navigating the psychosocial stage of
- Intimacy versus isolation
- Autonomy versus shame and doubt
- Identity versus role confusion
- Generativity versus stagnation
Correct answer: Identity versus role confusion
Identity versus role confusion is correct: Erikson identified adolescence as the period for forming a coherent sense of self by exploring roles and values. Intimacy versus isolation is the subsequent young-adult stage focused on forming close relationships, not on establishing identity.
- Erikson's psychosocial theory differs from Piaget's cognitive theory primarily in that Erikson's stages
- Apply only to physical growth and motor skills
- Describe only the development of language in infancy
- Focus on social and emotional conflicts across the entire lifespan rather than only on cognitive abilities in childhood
- Concern only the formation of memories
Correct answer: Focus on social and emotional conflicts across the entire lifespan rather than only on cognitive abilities in childhood
Focusing on social-emotional conflicts across the lifespan is correct: Erikson outlined eight stages of psychosocial crises extending from infancy through old age, whereas Piaget concentrated on cognitive development largely completed in childhood. Erikson's theory is not limited to language, physical growth, or memory.
- In Pavlov's classic experiment, a dog learned to salivate at the sound of a bell that had repeatedly preceded food. After conditioning, the bell is best described as the
- Unconditioned stimulus
- Conditioned stimulus
- Unconditioned response
- Neutral stimulus
Correct answer: Conditioned stimulus
The conditioned stimulus is correct: once a previously neutral bell is paired with food and comes to trigger salivation on its own, it has become a conditioned stimulus. The food remains the unconditioned stimulus because it naturally produces salivation without any prior learning.
- A type of learning in which an organism comes to associate two stimuli, so that a previously neutral stimulus triggers a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces that response, is called
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning
- Observational learning
- Shaping
Correct answer: Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is correct: it is learning through the association of two stimuli, as a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after pairing with a naturally triggering stimulus. Operant conditioning instead involves learning from the consequences of behavior, such as rewards and punishments.
- After a conditioned response to a bell has been extinguished, a dog suddenly salivates again to the bell following a rest period, with no new training. This reappearance of an extinguished response is called
- Generalization
- Spontaneous recovery
- Discrimination
- Shaping
Correct answer: Spontaneous recovery
Spontaneous recovery is correct: it is the reappearance, after a pause, of a previously extinguished conditioned response without further conditioning. Generalization instead refers to responding to stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus, not to the return of an extinguished response.
- Spontaneous recovery provides evidence that extinction in classical conditioning
- Permanently erases the original learned association
- Does not fully erase the learned association but suppresses it
- Is the same process as stimulus generalization
- Only occurs with positive reinforcement
Correct answer: Does not fully erase the learned association but suppresses it
Extinction suppressing rather than erasing the association is correct: because an extinguished response can spontaneously reappear after a rest, the original learning was clearly suppressed rather than wiped out. If extinction truly erased the association, the response could not return on its own.
- A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened or weakened by its consequences, such as rewards and punishments, is called
- Classical conditioning
- Habituation
- Operant conditioning
- Assimilation
Correct answer: Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is correct: it is learning in which the consequences of a behavior, like reinforcement or punishment, make that behavior more or less likely to recur. Classical conditioning instead involves associating two stimuli rather than learning from the outcomes of one's own actions.
- A rat presses a lever and receives a food pellet, making it more likely to press the lever again. The increased lever-pressing as a result of the rewarding consequence illustrates
- Classical conditioning
- Spontaneous recovery
- Operant conditioning
- Observational learning
Correct answer: Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is correct: the rat's behavior changes because of its consequence, with the food reward strengthening the lever-pressing response. Classical conditioning involves learning associations between stimuli, not modifying behavior through its rewarding or punishing outcomes.
- A teacher gives students extra recess time whenever they finish their work quietly, and the quiet behavior increases. Adding a desirable consequence to strengthen a behavior is an example of
- Positive reinforcement
- Negative reinforcement
- Positive punishment
- Extinction
Correct answer: Positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is correct: it strengthens a behavior by adding a pleasant or desirable stimulus, such as extra recess, after the behavior occurs. Negative reinforcement instead strengthens behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus, not by adding a reward.
- Positive reinforcement increases the frequency of a behavior by
- Adding a pleasant or rewarding stimulus after the behavior
- Removing an unpleasant stimulus after the behavior
- Adding an unpleasant stimulus after the behavior
- Removing a pleasant stimulus after the behavior
Correct answer: Adding a pleasant or rewarding stimulus after the behavior
Adding a pleasant or rewarding stimulus is correct: positive reinforcement strengthens behavior by presenting a desirable consequence following the behavior. Removing an unpleasant stimulus to strengthen behavior describes negative reinforcement, a different process.
- A driver buckles the seatbelt to stop an annoying beeping sound, and over time buckles up more consistently. The removal of the unpleasant beeping to strengthen the seatbelt behavior is an example of
- Positive reinforcement
- Negative reinforcement
- Positive punishment
- Negative punishment
Correct answer: Negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is correct: it strengthens a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus, as buckling up ends the irritating beep. Positive reinforcement would strengthen the behavior by adding something pleasant rather than by taking away something unpleasant.
- A common misconception is that negative reinforcement is a form of punishment. In reality, negative reinforcement
- Weakens a behavior by adding an unpleasant stimulus
- Has no effect on the frequency of behavior
- Weakens a behavior by removing a pleasant stimulus
- Strengthens a behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus
Correct answer: Strengthens a behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus
Strengthening a behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus is correct: like all reinforcement, negative reinforcement increases behavior, doing so by taking away an aversive condition. Punishment, by contrast, is what weakens or decreases a behavior, which is why negative reinforcement is not a form of punishment.
- A factory worker is paid for every 10 units produced, receiving payment after a set number of completed items. This pattern of reinforcement is a
- Variable-ratio schedule
- Variable-interval schedule
- Fixed-interval schedule
- Fixed-ratio schedule
Correct answer: Fixed-ratio schedule
A fixed-ratio schedule is correct: reinforcement is delivered after a fixed number of responses, such as payment for every 10 units. A fixed-interval schedule instead delivers reinforcement after a set amount of time passes, not after a set number of responses.
- Slot machines pay out after an unpredictable number of plays, which produces high and steady rates of gambling that resist extinction. This reflects which reinforcement schedule?
- Variable-ratio
- Fixed-interval
- Fixed-ratio
- Variable-interval
Correct answer: Variable-ratio
Variable-ratio is correct: reinforcement arrives after an unpredictable number of responses, which generates high, persistent response rates highly resistant to extinction, as seen in gambling. A fixed-ratio schedule reinforces after a set number of responses and produces a more predictable pause-and-respond pattern.
- An employee who receives a paycheck every two weeks, regardless of how much work is done within that period, is being reinforced on which schedule?
- Fixed-ratio
- Variable-ratio
- Fixed-interval
- Variable-interval
Correct answer: Fixed-interval
Fixed-interval is correct: reinforcement is delivered after a fixed, predictable amount of time has elapsed, such as a paycheck every two weeks. A fixed-ratio schedule instead ties reinforcement to a set number of responses rather than to the passage of time.
- In Albert Bandura's Bobo doll study, children who watched an adult model aggressively attack an inflatable doll were later more likely to imitate that aggression. This demonstrates
- Classical conditioning
- Spontaneous recovery
- Negative reinforcement
- Observational learning
Correct answer: Observational learning
Observational learning is correct: Bandura's study showed that children learn behaviors by watching and imitating a model, even without being directly reinforced themselves. Classical conditioning involves associating two stimuli and does not account for learning aggression simply by watching another person.
- Learning a new behavior by watching and imitating others, rather than through direct reinforcement of one's own actions, is called
- Shaping
- Observational learning
- Operant conditioning
- Assimilation
Correct answer: Observational learning
Observational learning is correct: it is acquiring behaviors by observing and modeling others, as emphasized in Bandura's social-cognitive research. Operant conditioning instead shapes behavior through the direct consequences of one's own actions rather than through watching a model.
- A researcher wants to teach a child a complex behavior gradually. Which approach best distinguishes operant conditioning from observational learning in this situation?
- Operant conditioning relies on associating two stimuli, while observational learning relies on consequences
- Operant conditioning reinforces successive approximations of the behavior, while observational learning teaches the behavior by having the child watch a model
- Both approaches require the child to receive food rewards
- Observational learning requires the child to be punished for errors, while operant conditioning does not
Correct answer: Operant conditioning reinforces successive approximations of the behavior, while observational learning teaches the behavior by having the child watch a model
Reinforcing successive approximations versus learning by watching a model is correct: operant conditioning builds behavior through consequences applied to closer and closer approximations, while observational learning lets the child acquire the behavior simply by observing someone perform it. Associating two stimuli describes classical conditioning, not either of these approaches.
- A preschooler insists that her teacher must also love the same cartoon she loves and cannot understand that other people may hold different viewpoints. According to Piaget, this difficulty in taking another person's perspective is characteristic of which stage?
- Sensorimotor stage
- Formal operational stage
- Concrete operational stage
- Preoperational stage
Correct answer: Preoperational stage
The preoperational stage is correct: Piaget characterized this stage, roughly ages 2 to 7, by egocentrism, the difficulty in seeing situations from another person's point of view. The concrete operational stage that follows brings the ability to take others' perspectives and reason more logically.
- A driver who cuts in front of others on the highway is judged by an onlooker as a rude and selfish person, even though the onlooker has no idea the driver is rushing an injured passenger to a hospital. The onlooker's quick conclusion about the driver's character best demonstrates
- The just-world hypothesis
- The fundamental attribution error
- Groupthink
- The mere exposure effect
Correct answer: The fundamental attribution error
The fundamental attribution error is the correct answer because it is the tendency to explain other people's behavior by their personality while underestimating the situation. Judging the driver as inherently rude while ignoring the emergency that explains the behavior is the dispositional overattribution this error describes.
- A volunteer who spends an entire weekend helping a candidate's campaign for free later reports liking the candidate far more than before, partly to justify the unpaid effort. Festinger's theory would attribute this increased liking to the resolution of
- The bystander effect
- Social facilitation
- Cognitive dissonance
- The just-world hypothesis
Correct answer: Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is the correct answer because it is the discomfort of holding inconsistent thoughts, such as working hard for free yet feeling lukewarm about the cause. Boosting liking for the candidate to justify the unpaid effort reduces that tension, the attitude shift Festinger's theory predicts.
- A charity worker first asks neighbors to sign a brief petition, and a month later finds those who signed are far more willing to donate money than those never approached. The worker's strategy of starting with a tiny request to boost later compliance is the
- Door-in-the-face technique
- Central-route persuasion
- Reciprocity norm
- Foot-in-the-door technique
Correct answer: Foot-in-the-door technique
The foot-in-the-door technique is the correct answer because it secures agreement to a small request first to make a larger later request more likely to be accepted. Getting neighbors to sign a quick petition before asking for donations is exactly this small-then-large compliance sequence.
- A new employee privately thinks a proposed schedule is inefficient, but when every coworker in the meeting voices support for it, she also raises her hand in agreement. Her public shift to match the unanimous group most clearly illustrates
- Conformity
- Obedience
- Social loafing
- The framing effect
Correct answer: Conformity
Conformity is the correct answer because it is changing one's behavior or expressed judgment to align with a group standard. The employee voting with the unanimous coworkers despite her private doubts mirrors the group-matching pattern Asch documented, the essence of conformity.
- A close-knit executive team, proud of always reaching quick unanimous decisions, dismisses a consultant's warning about a risky merger because raising concerns would disturb the group's harmony. This failure to weigh alternatives in pursuit of consensus reflects
- Group polarization
- Social facilitation
- Groupthink
- Deindividuation
Correct answer: Groupthink
Groupthink is the correct answer because it describes cohesive groups that prize agreement so highly that they ignore warnings and fail to examine alternatives. The team brushing off the consultant's caution to preserve unanimity on the merger is the unchecked consensus-seeking that defines groupthink.
- A skilled typist completes a familiar typing task noticeably faster and more accurately when supervisors are watching than when working alone in an empty room. This audience-driven boost on a well-mastered task best illustrates
- Social loafing
- Groupthink
- The bystander effect
- Social facilitation
Correct answer: Social facilitation
Social facilitation is the correct answer because the presence of observers tends to improve performance on simple or well-learned tasks. The expert typist working faster and more accurately while supervisors watch reflects this enhancement of a practiced skill in front of an audience.
- A swimmer struggles in a busy public pool while dozens of people watch, yet none jump in to help because each assumes a lifeguard or another swimmer will act. The reduced helping that results from so many onlookers present is the
- Bystander effect
- Self-serving bias
- Actor-observer bias
- Social facilitation effect
Correct answer: Bystander effect
The bystander effect is the correct answer because people are less likely to help when many others are present, since responsibility feels shared. Each pool onlooker assuming someone else will rescue the struggling swimmer, so no one acts, is the core dynamic of this effect.
- After learning that a coworker was laid off, an observer comments, "He must not have been working hard enough to keep his job." This assumption that misfortune must be deserved reflects the
- Actor-observer bias
- Mere exposure effect
- Foot-in-the-door technique
- Just-world hypothesis
Correct answer: Just-world hypothesis
The just-world hypothesis is the correct answer because it is the belief that the world is fair and people get outcomes they deserve. Concluding that the laid-off coworker must have earned his fate through laziness shows the observer assuming a just world where bad results are deserved.
- A counselor characterizes a client as very high in extraversion and neuroticism but low in conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. The five-dimension model the counselor is applying is the
- Big Five trait model
- Maslow hierarchy of needs
- Psychosexual stage model
- Two-factor theory of emotion
Correct answer: Big Five trait model
The Big Five trait model is the correct answer because it rates personality on five broad dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Describing a client across exactly extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness identifies this trait framework.
- In Freud's structural model, the part of personality that seeks immediate satisfaction of hunger, thirst, and other basic drives without concern for consequences operates on the
- Reality principle
- Pleasure principle
- Morality principle
- Competence principle
Correct answer: Pleasure principle
The pleasure principle is the correct answer because Freud said the id operates on it, demanding immediate gratification of basic drives regardless of consequences. The description of instantly satisfying hunger and thirst without restraint reflects the pleasure principle rather than the reality-based or moral principles.
- A man feels intense guilt after telling a small lie, judging himself harshly against the moral standards his parents instilled. In Freud's model, the component generating this guilt by upholding internalized ideals is the
Correct answer: Superego
The superego is the correct answer because Freud described it as the moral component that internalizes societal and parental standards and produces guilt when they are violated. The man's harsh self-judgment against instilled ideals after a lie reflects the superego acting as conscience.
- A woman who is frustrated after a tense argument with her supervisor comes home and slams cabinets and snaps at her roommate over trivial matters. In psychodynamic terms, redirecting these feelings onto a safer target is the defense mechanism of
- Projection
- Rationalization
- Displacement
- Sublimation
Correct answer: Displacement
Displacement is the correct answer because it is the redirection of impulses from a threatening source toward a safer one. The woman venting frustration meant for her supervisor onto her roommate and household objects is the substitution of targets that defines displacement.
- A student who frequently cheats on assignments becomes convinced that most of her classmates are also dishonest cheaters, even without evidence. Attributing her own unacceptable behavior to others is the defense mechanism of
- Sublimation
- Regression
- Reaction formation
- Projection
Correct answer: Projection
Projection is the correct answer because it is the defense mechanism of attributing one's own unacceptable impulses or behaviors to other people. The student assigning her own dishonesty to classmates without evidence is the externalizing of her own traits that defines projection.
- A novice runner who firmly believes she is capable of finishing a marathon trains consistently and bounces back quickly after a disappointing practice run. Bandura would describe her strong belief in her own ability to accomplish this specific goal as high
- Self-efficacy
- Self-actualization
- Self-monitoring
- Locus of control
Correct answer: Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the correct answer because Bandura defined it as belief in one's capability to carry out the actions needed for a specific goal. The runner's confidence that she can finish a marathon, fueling steady training and resilience, reflects high self-efficacy.
- A college student insists that his grades depend mostly on luck, the mood of his professors, and how easy the tests happen to be, rather than on his own studying. Rotter would describe this student as having an
- Internal locus of control
- Authoritative orientation
- Intrinsic motivation
- External locus of control
Correct answer: External locus of control
External locus of control is the correct answer because Rotter used it for the belief that outcomes are controlled by luck, fate, or powerful others rather than oneself. The student crediting his grades to luck and professors instead of his own effort shows an external locus of control.
- According to Maslow, after a person has secured food, water, and physical safety, the next level of needs to emerge involves love, friendship, and a sense of
- Esteem and achievement
- Self-actualization
- Belongingness
- Physiological balance
Correct answer: Belongingness
Belongingness is the correct answer because Maslow placed love and belonging needs directly above physiological and safety needs in his hierarchy. Once basic survival and safety are met, the drive for friendship, love, and connection emerges, which is the belongingness level.
- A debate competitor performs at her sharpest when she feels a moderate level of pre-round nervousness, but her arguments fall apart when she is either completely relaxed or overwhelmed with panic. This inverted-U relationship between arousal and performance is captured by the
- Yerkes-Dodson law
- James-Lange theory
- Facial feedback hypothesis
- Drive-reduction theory
Correct answer: Yerkes-Dodson law
The Yerkes-Dodson law is the correct answer because it states performance rises with arousal to an optimal point and then falls, forming an inverted U. The debater performing best at moderate arousal but poorly when too calm or too anxious directly illustrates this principle.
- A theorist argues that when a person sees a bear, the body's pounding heart and trembling occur first, and the conscious feeling of fear arises from noticing those bodily changes. This account, placing physiological arousal before the felt emotion, is the
- Cannon-Bard theory
- Two-factor theory
- Opponent-process theory
- James-Lange theory
Correct answer: James-Lange theory
The James-Lange theory is the correct answer because it holds that emotions result from interpreting physiological arousal, so the bodily reaction precedes the felt emotion. The order of a pounding heart and trembling coming before the awareness of fear matches this theory.
- An experimenter has participants either furrow their brows or relax their faces while rating frustrating puzzles, and finds those forced to frown report more annoyance. This result supports the idea that facial expressions can intensify felt emotion, known as the
- James-Lange theory
- Facial feedback hypothesis
- Cannon-Bard theory
- Display rules concept
Correct answer: Facial feedback hypothesis
The facial feedback hypothesis is the correct answer because it proposes that the muscles of facial expression feed back to influence the emotions a person actually feels. Participants forced to frown reporting more annoyance shows the expression amplifying the felt emotion, the core of this hypothesis.
- In a research lab, an assistant follows an experimenter's repeated instructions to deliver what he believes are increasingly painful shocks to another person, despite his discomfort, because the experimenter keeps telling him to continue. Following these commands from an authority figure best illustrates
- Conformity
- Social facilitation
- Obedience
- Group polarization
Correct answer: Obedience
Obedience is the correct answer because it specifically refers to complying with the direct commands of an authority figure. The assistant continuing the shocks because the experimenter orders him to, against his own wishes, illustrates obedience rather than simply matching a peer group.
- A camper genuinely unsure how to respond during an unfamiliar emergency drill looks to the experienced staff and copies what they do, assuming they know the correct action. This conformity driven by relying on others as a source of accurate information is
- Normative social influence
- The foot-in-the-door technique
- Social loafing
- Informational social influence
Correct answer: Informational social influence
Informational social influence is the correct answer because it is conformity that occurs when people accept others' behavior as evidence about reality in ambiguous situations. The uncertain camper copying experienced staff because he believes they know the right action reflects this information-driven conformity.
- When a crowd of people witnesses a stranger collapse, each onlooker feels less personal pressure to step in because the obligation seems shared among everyone present. This spreading of accountability that underlies the bystander effect is called
- Deindividuation
- Diffusion of responsibility
- Group polarization
- Social loafing
Correct answer: Diffusion of responsibility
Diffusion of responsibility is the correct answer because it is the reduced sense of personal obligation that occurs when responsibility is perceived as spread across many people. Each onlooker feeling less pressure to help because the duty seems shared is the mechanism driving the bystander effect.
- On a group lab report where only a single combined grade is given and no one's individual work is tracked, one member quietly contributes far less than he would on a solo assignment. This drop in personal effort within an unaccountable group is
- Social facilitation
- Social loafing
- Deindividuation
- Groupthink
Correct answer: Social loafing
Social loafing is the correct answer because it is the tendency to exert less effort in a group when individual contributions cannot be identified. The member coasting on a shared, untracked grade compared with working alone exemplifies social loafing.
- After being persuaded to give a speech praising a policy she actually opposed, a participant later reports that she now agrees with the policy more than before. The discomfort of acting against her real beliefs and her resulting attitude change reflect the reduction of
- Reactance
- Social comparison
- Cognitive dissonance
- Learned helplessness
Correct answer: Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is the correct answer because acting against one's beliefs creates an uncomfortable inconsistency that motivates attitude change. The participant shifting her opinion toward the policy she argued for, to ease the tension of contradicting her real view, reflects dissonance reduction.
- In Freud's model, the component that weighs the impulsive demands of basic drives against moral standards and the realities of the outside world operates on the
- Pleasure principle
- Morality principle
- Reality principle
- Hedonic principle
Correct answer: Reality principle
The reality principle is the correct answer because Freud said the ego operates on it, balancing the id's urges against the superego's morals and the constraints of the real world. The mediating, reality-oriented role described matches the ego's reality principle, not the id's pleasure principle.
- A teenager who is deeply anxious about an upcoming surgery talks and behaves as if the operation were no big deal and flatly refuses to admit any worry, even to himself. Refusing to acknowledge a distressing reality is the defense mechanism of
- Displacement
- Denial
- Sublimation
- Regression
Correct answer: Denial
Denial is the correct answer because it is the refusal to accept or acknowledge an anxiety-provoking reality. The teenager insisting the surgery is no concern and refusing to admit fear is blocking awareness of the distressing truth, which defines denial.
- A person with strong unconscious hostility toward a sibling instead behaves with exaggerated kindness and excessive affection toward that sibling. Converting an unacceptable impulse into its opposite is the defense mechanism of
- Reaction formation
- Projection
- Rationalization
- Displacement
Correct answer: Reaction formation
Reaction formation is the correct answer because it is the defense mechanism in which a person expresses the opposite of an anxiety-provoking impulse. Masking hostility toward a sibling with exaggerated kindness is the conversion of an unacceptable feeling into its opposite that defines reaction formation.
- Which description best fits a person who scores very high on the Big Five dimension of conscientiousness?
- Imaginative, curious, and drawn to novel ideas
- Anxious, tense, and easily upset
- Organized, dependable, and self-disciplined
- Outgoing, talkative, and energized by social settings
Correct answer: Organized, dependable, and self-disciplined
Organized, dependable, and self-disciplined is the correct answer because conscientiousness in the Big Five reflects orderliness, reliability, and self-control. Imaginative describes openness, anxious describes neuroticism, and outgoing describes extraversion, so only the organized and disciplined description matches conscientiousness.
- An employee who believes she can master any new software her job throws at her volunteers for difficult projects, while a coworker who doubts his computer abilities avoids them entirely. The difference in their willingness to take on tech challenges best reflects differences in
- Self-efficacy
- Locus of control
- Self-esteem
- Need for affiliation
Correct answer: Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the correct answer because Bandura defined it as belief in one's capability to succeed at specific tasks, which shapes the challenges people attempt. The employee tackling hard tech projects because she believes she can master the software, versus the doubtful coworker avoiding them, reflects differing self-efficacy.
- Maslow's hierarchy is often depicted as a pyramid in which lower needs must generally be satisfied before higher ones become priorities. Which sequence correctly orders three of his levels from lower to higher?
- Esteem, then safety, then physiological
- Physiological, then safety, then esteem
- Self-actualization, then belongingness, then safety
- Belongingness, then physiological, then esteem
Correct answer: Physiological, then safety, then esteem
Physiological, then safety, then esteem is the correct answer because Maslow ordered needs from physiological at the base, up through safety, belongingness, esteem, and finally self-actualization. Only this option moves correctly from the most basic survival needs upward toward esteem.
- A coach notices that her athletes sprint their best when fairly pumped up, but their performance on a delicate, complex gymnastics routine peaks at a calmer, lower level of arousal. This task-dependent difference in optimal arousal is explained by
- Drive-reduction theory
- The facial feedback hypothesis
- The James-Lange theory
- The Yerkes-Dodson law
Correct answer: The Yerkes-Dodson law
The Yerkes-Dodson law is the correct answer because it specifies that optimal arousal varies with task difficulty, with higher arousal aiding simple tasks and lower arousal favoring complex ones. The athletes peaking at high arousal for sprints but low arousal for an intricate routine reflects this difficulty-dependent pattern.
- Two early theories of emotion disagree about timing. One claims a person feels afraid only after noticing bodily arousal. Compared with the view that emotion and arousal occur at the same time, this arousal-first account is best identified as the
- Cannon-Bard theory
- Two-factor theory
- James-Lange theory
- Opponent-process theory
Correct answer: James-Lange theory
The James-Lange theory is the correct answer because it argues that physiological arousal comes first and the emotion follows from interpreting that arousal. This contrasts with the simultaneous arousal-and-emotion claim, identifying the arousal-first account specifically as the James-Lange theory.
- A nonprofit fundraiser asks passersby a small favor first, requesting they wear a tiny awareness pin, expecting that those who agree will more readily make a donation when asked next. The fundraiser is deliberately applying
- The door-in-the-face technique
- The foot-in-the-door technique
- Peripheral-route persuasion
- Normative social influence
Correct answer: The foot-in-the-door technique
The foot-in-the-door technique is the correct answer because it uses a small initial request to increase the chance of agreement to a larger one. The fundraiser starting with a tiny pin-wearing favor to make a later donation request more likely is precisely this compliance strategy.
- When explaining her own car accident, a driver insists the icy road and a distracting pedestrian caused it, yet when a stranger crashes she concludes the stranger is simply a careless person. This pairing of situational excuses for herself and dispositional blame for others reflects the
- Actor-observer bias
- Just-world hypothesis
- Mere exposure effect
- Groupthink
Correct answer: Actor-observer bias
The actor-observer bias is the correct answer because it is the tendency to attribute our own actions to the situation while attributing others' actions to their character. The driver blaming the road for her own crash but blaming the stranger's personality shows this contrast in explaining self versus others.
- A man inherits a genetic predisposition toward depression, but the disorder only emerges after he endures a sudden job loss and divorce in the same year. This account, in which an underlying vulnerability surfaces only when triggered by significant life stressors, best illustrates the
- Learned helplessness model
- Diathesis-stress model
- Medical model
- Two-factor model
Correct answer: Diathesis-stress model
The diathesis-stress model is the correct answer because it explains psychological disorders as the product of a predisposing vulnerability combined with environmental stress. The man's inherited risk staying dormant until job loss and divorce triggered the depression is exactly this vulnerability-plus-stress interaction.
- A clinician explains a client's anxiety disorder by considering her genetic risk, her negative thinking patterns, and the chronic conflict in her family and workplace all at once. Treating the disorder as arising from biological, psychological, and social influences together reflects the
- Psychoanalytic model
- Biopsychosocial model
- Behavioral model
- Humanistic model
Correct answer: Biopsychosocial model
The biopsychosocial model is the correct answer because it explains disorders and their treatment through the combined influence of biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors. The clinician weighing genetics, thought patterns, and family and work conflict together reflects this integrated multi-level approach.
- A woman reports feeling tense, restless, and worried nearly every day for the past eight months about a wide range of everyday matters such as work, money, and her family's health, with no single specific trigger. Her persistent, free-floating worry best fits the diagnosis of
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Specific phobia
- Panic disorder
- Agoraphobia
Correct answer: Generalized anxiety disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder is the correct answer because it involves persistent, excessive worry about many areas of life that is not tied to one particular object or situation. The woman's chronic, free-floating tension about work, money, and health for months matches this diagnosis rather than a focused fear.
- For more than two weeks, a college student has felt deeply sad and empty, lost interest in activities he once loved, slept poorly, and struggled to concentrate or find any energy. This cluster of persistent low mood and loss of pleasure most closely matches
- Bipolar disorder
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Major depressive disorder
- Dissociative identity disorder
Correct answer: Major depressive disorder
Major depressive disorder is the correct answer because it is defined by at least two weeks of depressed mood or loss of interest along with symptoms like sleep disturbance, fatigue, and trouble concentrating. The student's lasting sadness, anhedonia, and low energy fit this depressive pattern.
- A man cycles between weeks of euphoric, high-energy episodes during which he sleeps little and makes impulsive purchases, followed by stretches of deep depression. This alternation between manic and depressive states is characteristic of
- Major depressive disorder
- Persistent depressive disorder
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Bipolar disorder
Correct answer: Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder is the correct answer because it is marked by alternating episodes of mania, featuring elevated mood, decreased need for sleep, and impulsivity, and episodes of depression. The man's swings from euphoric, sleepless, impulsive highs to depressive lows define this mood disorder.
- A man experiences vivid hallucinations of voices that are not present, holds firm false beliefs that strangers are plotting against him, and shows disorganized speech that jumps incoherently between topics. These disturbances in perception and thought are core features of
- Dissociative identity disorder
- Bipolar disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Correct answer: Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is the correct answer because it is characterized by disturbances such as hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized speech and thinking. The man's voices, false persecutory beliefs, and incoherent speech are the perceptual and thought disruptions that define this disorder.
- A woman is plagued by intrusive, unwanted thoughts that her hands are contaminated, and to ease the resulting anxiety she washes them dozens of times each day in a fixed ritual she cannot stop. This pairing of distressing thoughts with repetitive ritual behaviors best fits
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Specific phobia
- Major depressive disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Correct answer: Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is the correct answer because it involves persistent intrusive thoughts, the obsessions, paired with repetitive behaviors, the compulsions, performed to reduce anxiety. The woman's contamination fears driving compulsive, repeated handwashing rituals are the obsession-compulsion cycle that defines this disorder.
- Months after surviving a violent car crash, a man still has nightmares and sudden flashbacks of the event, feels constantly on edge, and avoids driving or even riding in cars. This lingering reaction to a traumatic event most closely matches
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Panic disorder
- Bipolar disorder
Correct answer: Post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder is the correct answer because it develops after exposure to trauma and involves re-experiencing through flashbacks and nightmares, heightened arousal, and avoidance of reminders. The man's intrusive flashbacks, hypervigilance, and avoidance of cars after the crash fit this trauma-based disorder.
- A clinician evaluates a client who appears to shift among two or more distinct identities, each with its own name, memories, and mannerisms, with gaps in memory for what the other identities did. This presentation is characteristic of
- Schizophrenia
- Bipolar disorder
- Dissociative identity disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Correct answer: Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder is the correct answer because it involves the presence of two or more distinct identities along with memory gaps that go beyond ordinary forgetting. The client alternating among separate identities with their own memories and amnesia for the others' actions defines this dissociative disorder.
- A therapist helps a client identify distorted, negative automatic thoughts such as "I always fail," challenge their accuracy, and replace them with more realistic interpretations while also changing avoidant behaviors. This evidence-based approach targeting both thoughts and behaviors is
- Psychoanalysis
- Client-centered therapy
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Biomedical therapy
Correct answer: Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is the correct answer because it combines changing maladaptive thought patterns with modifying problematic behaviors. The therapist helping the client identify, challenge, and replace distorted thoughts while addressing avoidance reflects this dual cognitive-and-behavioral focus.
- To treat a client's intense fear of elevators, a therapist first teaches relaxation skills, then gradually exposes the client to a ranked hierarchy of feared scenes, from imagining an elevator to finally riding one, while staying relaxed at each step. This phobia treatment is
- Aversion therapy
- Systematic desensitization
- Free association
- A token economy
Correct answer: Systematic desensitization
Systematic desensitization is the correct answer because it pairs trained relaxation with gradual exposure to an increasingly feared hierarchy so the feared stimulus stops triggering anxiety. The therapist combining relaxation with a step-by-step approach to elevators, from imagining to riding, is this exposure-based technique.
- On a psychiatric ward, staff give patients plastic chips for completing self-care tasks like showering and making their beds, and patients later exchange the chips for snacks or privileges. This behavioral treatment that reinforces desired behaviors with exchangeable rewards is a
- Systematic desensitization program
- Token economy
- Flooding procedure
- Cognitive restructuring program
Correct answer: Token economy
A token economy is the correct answer because it uses operant conditioning, awarding tokens for desired behaviors that can later be traded for rewards. The ward giving chips for self-care tasks that patients exchange for snacks and privileges is exactly this reinforcement-based system.
- Two people share a similar genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia, yet only one develops the disorder after years of severe poverty and family turmoil while the other, raised in a stable, low-stress home, does not. This difference is most directly explained by the
- Learned helplessness model
- Diathesis-stress model
- Biomedical model
- Two-factor theory
Correct answer: Diathesis-stress model
The diathesis-stress model is the correct answer because it predicts that an identical predisposition leads to a disorder only when sufficient environmental stress is present. One vulnerable person developing schizophrenia under harsh stress while the equally vulnerable other does not in a calm environment reflects this interaction.
- A treatment team designs a recovery plan that combines antidepressant medication, therapy to change the client's thinking, and support groups that strengthen her social connections. By addressing biological, psychological, and social factors together, the team is applying the
- Medical model
- Psychodynamic model
- Behavioral model
- Biopsychosocial model
Correct answer: Biopsychosocial model
The biopsychosocial model is the correct answer because it guides treatment that simultaneously targets biological, psychological, and social-cultural contributors. The team pairing medication, therapy, and social support to treat one client across all three levels reflects this integrated framework.
- A patient with schizophrenia shows flat emotional expression, speaks very little, withdraws from others, and has lost motivation for everyday activities. These deficits, which involve the absence or reduction of normal functioning, are best described as
- Negative symptoms
- Positive symptoms
- Dissociative symptoms
- Manic symptoms
Correct answer: Negative symptoms
Negative symptoms are the correct answer because in schizophrenia they refer to reductions or absences of normal functioning, such as flat affect, reduced speech, social withdrawal, and lack of motivation. The patient's diminished emotion, sparse speech, and lost drive reflect these deficit-based symptoms rather than added experiences.
- A teenager has an extreme, persistent fear of dogs so intense that she refuses to walk past a neighbor's yard and panics at the sight of any dog, though she recognizes the fear is out of proportion to the danger. This focused, excessive fear of a specific object best fits
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- A specific phobia
- Social anxiety disorder
Correct answer: A specific phobia
A specific phobia is the correct answer because it is an intense, persistent, and excessive fear of a particular object or situation that is out of proportion to actual danger. The teenager's overwhelming, focused fear of dogs that disrupts her behavior matches this single-target anxiety disorder rather than broad worry.
- A client repeatedly checks that the stove is off and the door is locked, returning to verify them again and again because intrusive doubts make him intensely anxious until he completes the checks. The repetitive checking he performs to relieve his anxiety is best labeled a
- Delusion
- Hallucination
- Flashback
- Compulsion
Correct answer: Compulsion
A compulsion is the correct answer because in obsessive-compulsive disorder it is a repetitive behavior performed to reduce the anxiety caused by an obsession. The client's repeated checking of the stove and door to relieve intrusive doubts is this anxiety-reducing ritual, distinct from the obsessive thought itself.
- During a manic episode, a person is most likely to display
- Inflated self-esteem, racing thoughts, and little need for sleep
- Prolonged sadness and loss of interest in activities
- Flat affect and social withdrawal
- Intrusive flashbacks of a traumatic event
Correct answer: Inflated self-esteem, racing thoughts, and little need for sleep
Inflated self-esteem, racing thoughts, and little need for sleep is the correct answer because mania in bipolar disorder features elevated mood, grandiosity, rapid thinking, and a reduced need for sleep. Prolonged sadness describes depression, flat affect describes schizophrenia's negative symptoms, and flashbacks describe trauma, so only the high-energy cluster fits mania.
- A behavior therapist treating a child's habit of biting his nails pairs the behavior with an unpleasant bitter-tasting nail polish so the child comes to associate nail-biting with an aversive taste. This technique of linking an unwanted behavior with an unpleasant stimulus is
- Systematic desensitization
- A token economy
- Aversion therapy
- Cognitive restructuring
Correct answer: Aversion therapy
Aversion therapy is the correct answer because it links an undesirable behavior with an unpleasant stimulus so the behavior becomes less appealing. The therapist pairing nail-biting with a bitter taste so the child associates the habit with the aversive sensation is exactly this conditioning-based treatment.
- A psychiatrist prescribes lithium and antipsychotic medication to directly alter a patient's brain chemistry, viewing the disorder primarily as a physical illness to be treated like any other medical condition. This approach reflects the
- Biomedical model
- Behavioral model
- Psychodynamic model
- Humanistic model
Correct answer: Biomedical model
The biomedical model is the correct answer because it treats psychological disorders as physical illnesses with biological causes addressed through medical interventions like medication. The psychiatrist relying on drugs to change brain chemistry and viewing the disorder as a medical condition reflects this biological emphasis.
- A woman suddenly experiences repeated, unexpected episodes of pounding heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, and a terrifying sense that she is about to die, with no clear trigger, and then begins to dread the next attack. These abrupt surges of intense fear best fit
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- A specific phobia
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Panic disorder
Correct answer: Panic disorder
Panic disorder is the correct answer because it involves recurrent, unexpected panic attacks of intense fear with physical symptoms like racing heart and shortness of breath, plus worry about future attacks. The woman's sudden episodes and dread of recurrence match this disorder rather than steady, generalized worry.
- In schizophrenia, a firmly held false belief that one is a famous historical figure or that the government is broadcasting thoughts into one's head is best classified as a
- Compulsion
- Delusion
- Phobia
- Dissociation
Correct answer: Delusion
A delusion is the correct answer because it is a firmly held false belief maintained despite clear contrary evidence, a positive symptom of schizophrenia. Believing one is a famous figure or that thoughts are being broadcast in are these fixed false beliefs, distinct from compulsive rituals or fears.
- A clinician argues that a client's recurrent depression cannot be understood by genetics alone, pointing also to his pessimistic explanatory style and his isolation after moving to a new city. By insisting that all three levels matter together, the clinician is reasoning from the
- Diathesis-stress model alone
- Behavioral model alone
- Biopsychosocial model
- Medical model alone
Correct answer: Biopsychosocial model
The biopsychosocial model is the correct answer because it insists that biological, psychological, and social factors jointly shape disorders. The clinician combining genetics, a pessimistic thinking style, and social isolation to explain the depression reflects this multi-factor integration rather than any single-cause model.
- A therapist treating a war veteran's trauma symptoms helps him gradually and repeatedly confront vivid memories and reminders of the event in a safe setting until they lose their power to provoke overwhelming fear. This exposure-based treatment for trauma-related symptoms most closely reflects the logic of
- Systematic desensitization
- A token economy
- Free association
- Aversion therapy
Correct answer: Systematic desensitization
Systematic desensitization is the correct answer because it reduces fear by gradually and repeatedly exposing a person to feared stimuli in a safe, controlled way until the anxiety fades. The therapist guiding the veteran to confront trauma reminders step by step until they no longer trigger overwhelming fear reflects this exposure logic.
- A special-education teacher gives students stars each time they stay seated and finish their assignments, and students later trade collected stars for extra recess or small prizes. This system of reinforcing target behaviors with exchangeable rewards is a
- Systematic desensitization plan
- Cognitive restructuring plan
- Flooding procedure
- Token economy
Correct answer: Token economy
A token economy is the correct answer because it reinforces desired behaviors with secondary reinforcers, tokens, that can be exchanged for rewards. The teacher awarding stars for staying seated and finishing work that students trade for recess or prizes is precisely this operant-based reward system.
- Researchers note that a man with a strong family history of bipolar disorder remained symptom-free for decades until a period of extreme stress finally seemed to set off his first manic episode. The interpretation that his genetic predisposition required a stressful trigger to express itself reflects the
- Biomedical model
- Humanistic model
- Behavioral model
- Diathesis-stress model
Correct answer: Diathesis-stress model
The diathesis-stress model is the correct answer because it holds that a predisposition produces a disorder only when activated by sufficient stress. The man's inherited bipolar vulnerability staying dormant for decades until extreme stress triggered his first manic episode is this vulnerability-stress interaction.
- A counselor working with a client who has panic attacks helps her notice the catastrophic thought "My racing heart means I'm having a heart attack," examine the evidence against it, and replace it with a calmer, more accurate interpretation. This focus on identifying and correcting distorted thoughts is central to
- Psychoanalysis
- Aversion therapy
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- A token economy
Correct answer: Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is the correct answer because a key element is identifying, testing, and replacing distorted, maladaptive thoughts with more realistic ones. The counselor helping the client challenge her catastrophic interpretation of a racing heart and adopt a calmer view reflects this cognitive restructuring.
- A man with schizophrenia reports hearing voices commenting on his actions when no one is speaking and seeing shadowy figures that others cannot see. These false sensory experiences are best classified as
- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Compulsions
- Obsessions
Correct answer: Hallucinations
Hallucinations are the correct answer because they are false sensory perceptions, such as hearing voices or seeing things that are not there, and are a positive symptom of schizophrenia. The man perceiving voices and figures with no real source is experiencing these perceptual disturbances rather than false beliefs.
- A person with dissociative identity disorder frequently "loses time," finding unfamiliar items she does not remember buying and being told she said and did things she has no memory of. This inability to recall the actions of her other identities is best described as
- A delusion
- A hallucination
- Dissociative amnesia
- A compulsion
Correct answer: Dissociative amnesia
Dissociative amnesia is the correct answer because in dissociative identity disorder it refers to memory gaps for personal events that exceed ordinary forgetting, often for what another identity did. The woman losing time and lacking memory for purchases and actions reflects this dissociative memory disruption.
- Which of the following best distinguishes obsessions from compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder?
- Obsessions are intrusive thoughts, while compulsions are repetitive behaviors performed to reduce anxiety
- Obsessions are repeated behaviors, while compulsions are intrusive thoughts
- Obsessions are false beliefs, while compulsions are false perceptions
- Obsessions occur in childhood, while compulsions occur only in adulthood
Correct answer: Obsessions are intrusive thoughts, while compulsions are repetitive behaviors performed to reduce anxiety
Obsessions being intrusive thoughts and compulsions being repetitive behaviors to reduce anxiety is the correct answer because that is the defining distinction in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessions are the unwanted recurring thoughts that drive anxiety, while compulsions are the ritual actions performed to relieve it, which the other options reverse or misstate.
- A soldier who survived an explosion now reacts to a slamming door or a car backfiring with an intense startle and a vivid sense of being back in the combat zone. This sudden re-experiencing of the trauma triggered by reminders is best described as a
- Compulsion
- Delusion
- Manic episode
- Flashback
Correct answer: Flashback
A flashback is the correct answer because in post-traumatic stress disorder it is an involuntary, vivid re-experiencing of a traumatic event, often set off by reminders. The soldier suddenly feeling transported back to combat when a loud noise resembles the explosion is this trauma re-experiencing symptom.
- A psychologist studying why depression rates differ across communities emphasizes that the disorder reflects not only brain chemistry but also patterns of negative thinking and the support, or stress, present in a person's relationships and culture. Her broad explanation is grounded in the
- Behavioral model
- Biopsychosocial model
- Psychoanalytic model
- Biomedical model
Correct answer: Biopsychosocial model
The biopsychosocial model is the correct answer because it accounts for disorders through biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences combined. The psychologist explaining depression with brain chemistry, negative thinking, and relational and cultural context together is reasoning from this integrated model.
- A therapist treating a client's elevator phobia would most likely begin the systematic desensitization process by
- Having the client ride a crowded elevator on the first day
- Teaching the client deep relaxation techniques before any exposure
- Prescribing anti-anxiety medication to numb the fear
- Interpreting the unconscious childhood roots of the fear
Correct answer: Teaching the client deep relaxation techniques before any exposure
Teaching the client deep relaxation techniques before any exposure is the correct answer because systematic desensitization first establishes a relaxation response that is then paired with a gradual fear hierarchy. Starting with relaxation training, not immediate full exposure, medication, or unconscious interpretation, is the defining first step of this treatment.
- A client who has felt persistently sad, hopeless, and uninterested in his usual hobbies for several weeks also reports significant weight loss, insomnia, and recurrent thoughts of death. Taken together, this symptom profile is most consistent with
- Major depressive disorder
- A manic episode
- A specific phobia
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Correct answer: Major depressive disorder
Major depressive disorder is the correct answer because it includes persistent depressed mood and loss of interest alongside symptoms such as appetite or weight change, insomnia, and recurrent thoughts of death. The client's weeks of hopelessness, anhedonia, weight loss, insomnia, and death-related thoughts match this depressive diagnosis.
- A treatment program for clients with phobias combines exposure to feared situations with lessons that challenge the unrealistic beliefs fueling the fear, such as "If I feel anxious, I will completely lose control." By targeting both the behavior of avoidance and the irrational thoughts behind it, this program reflects
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Psychoanalysis
- A strictly biomedical approach
- A token economy
Correct answer: Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is the correct answer because it integrates behavioral techniques like exposure with cognitive work that challenges and reshapes irrational beliefs. The program reducing avoidance through exposure while correcting catastrophic thoughts about anxiety reflects this combined cognitive-behavioral approach.
- A college student becomes intensely terrified whenever she sees a needle, to the point of refusing necessary blood tests, even though she knows the fear is out of proportion to any real danger. Her marked, irrational fear focused on one particular object best fits which diagnosis?
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Specific phobia
- Illness anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
Correct answer: Specific phobia
Specific phobia is the correct answer because it is an intense, persistent, irrational fear of a particular object or situation that the person recognizes as excessive. The student's focused terror of needles, out of proportion to actual danger, matches this targeted fear rather than diffuse or unexpected anxiety.
- A man cannot stop thinking that his hands are contaminated, and to relieve the dread these thoughts cause he washes them dozens of times a day in a strict ritual. The unwanted recurring thoughts in this case are specifically labeled as which of the following?
- Compulsions
- Delusions
- Phobias
- Obsessions
Correct answer: Obsessions
Obsessions is the correct answer because obsessions are the intrusive, unwanted, recurring thoughts in obsessive-compulsive disorder, whereas the ritual washing is the compulsion. The man's persistent contamination thoughts that drive his washing are the obsessive component, not the behavioral response itself.
- A patient with schizophrenia speaks in a jumble of loosely connected words and phrases that do not form coherent sentences, a pattern sometimes called word salad. This breakdown in the logical organization of speech and thought is best described as which symptom?
- Avolition
- Catatonia
- Disorganized thinking
- Flat affect
Correct answer: Disorganized thinking
Disorganized thinking is the correct answer because it refers to the fragmented, illogical speech and thought seen in schizophrenia, including word salad. The patient's incoherent stringing together of words reflects this disturbance in thought organization rather than a reduction of emotion or movement.
- Researchers note that many symptoms of schizophrenia improve when medications block a particular neurotransmitter, and that drugs increasing this same neurotransmitter can produce psychotic-like symptoms. This evidence supports a biological explanation centered on which neurotransmitter?
- Dopamine
- GABA
- Serotonin
- Acetylcholine
Correct answer: Dopamine
Dopamine is the correct answer because the dopamine hypothesis links the positive symptoms of schizophrenia to overactivity of dopamine systems, which is why dopamine-blocking drugs reduce symptoms. The pattern of blocking the neurotransmitter to relieve psychosis and boosting it to provoke psychosis points specifically to dopamine.
- A person remains immobile for hours in an unusual rigid posture, neither responding to others nor moving voluntarily, then abruptly shifts to agitated, purposeless activity. This disturbance of movement seen in some cases of schizophrenia is called what?
- Mania
- Catatonia
- Tardive dyskinesia
- Dissociation
Correct answer: Catatonia
Catatonia is the correct answer because it is a movement disturbance in schizophrenia marked by immobility, rigid or odd postures, and sometimes excessive purposeless motion. The person's prolonged frozen posture alternating with agitated activity reflects this motor symptom rather than a mood or memory problem.
- A woman cannot throw away old newspapers, broken items, and junk mail, and over years her home becomes so cluttered that rooms can no longer be used for their purpose. Her persistent difficulty discarding possessions best fits which disorder?
- Hoarding disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Major depressive disorder
- Generalized anxiety disorder
Correct answer: Hoarding disorder
Hoarding disorder is the correct answer because it involves persistent difficulty parting with possessions, leading to accumulation that congests living spaces. The woman's inability to discard items until her home is unusable defines this disorder rather than a more general anxiety pattern.
- A man is convinced he is a famous historical ruler with secret powers, despite clear evidence to the contrary. This particular type of fixed false belief, in which someone overestimates their own importance or identity, is best described as a delusion of what?
- Persecution
- Reference
- Grandeur
- Control
Correct answer: Grandeur
Grandeur is the correct answer because a delusion of grandeur is a false belief in one's own exaggerated power, importance, or identity. The man's conviction that he is a powerful historical ruler reflects this inflated self-belief rather than a belief that he is being harmed or controlled.
- A patient firmly believes that government agents are following him, tapping his phone, and plotting to harm him, with no factual basis. This fixed false belief that one is being targeted or harmed is best described as a delusion of what?
- Reference
- Grandeur
- Guilt
- Persecution
Correct answer: Persecution
Persecution is the correct answer because a delusion of persecution is a false belief that one is being threatened, followed, or conspired against. The patient's unfounded conviction that agents are plotting to harm him reflects this type of paranoid belief rather than an inflated sense of self.
- A psychologist notes that a client has both major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder at the same time, a frequent occurrence with these conditions. The simultaneous presence of two or more disorders in one person is best described by which term?
- Comorbidity
- Prognosis
- Etiology
- Remission
Correct answer: Comorbidity
Comorbidity is the correct answer because it refers to the co-occurrence of two or more disorders in the same individual. The client's having both depression and an anxiety disorder at once illustrates comorbidity rather than the cause or outcome of a single condition.
- A researcher studies the underlying causes and developmental origins of why panic disorder arises in certain individuals. The study of the causes or origins of a disorder is best described by which term?
- Etiology
- Comorbidity
- Diagnosis
- Prognosis
Correct answer: Etiology
Etiology is the correct answer because it is the study of the causes or origins of a disorder. The researcher's focus on why panic disorder develops in some people concerns its etiology rather than its likely outcome or its identification.
- A therapist describes herself as not committed to any single school of thought; instead she selects techniques from psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive approaches based on what best fits each client. This flexible, mix-and-match approach to therapy is best called what?
- Client-centered therapy
- Eclectic therapy
- Psychoanalysis
- Aversion therapy
Correct answer: Eclectic therapy
Eclectic therapy is the correct answer because it draws on techniques from multiple theoretical approaches rather than adhering to one. The therapist's blending of psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive methods to suit each client defines this integrative stance.
- A therapist treats a client with intense emotional swings and self-harm by combining acceptance and mindfulness with skills training to change behavior, an approach originally developed for borderline personality disorder. This specific therapy is best called what?
- Dialectical behavior therapy
- Systematic desensitization
- Aversion therapy
- Free association
Correct answer: Dialectical behavior therapy
Dialectical behavior therapy is the correct answer because it combines acceptance and mindfulness strategies with behavior-change skills and was developed especially for borderline personality disorder. The therapist's balancing of acceptance with skills training to manage emotional swings reflects this approach.
- A therapist developed by Albert Ellis vigorously disputes a client's irrational beliefs, such as the demand to be perfect, to reduce the emotional distress those beliefs cause. This confrontational cognitive therapy is best called what?
- Client-centered therapy
- Token economy
- Psychoanalysis
- Rational-emotive behavior therapy
Correct answer: Rational-emotive behavior therapy
Rational-emotive behavior therapy is the correct answer because Ellis created this directive cognitive approach that actively challenges irrational beliefs to relieve emotional distress. The therapist's vigorous disputing of demands for perfection reflects this method rather than a nondirective or unconscious-focused approach.
- A clinician treats a client's fear of flying by having him wear a headset that simulates being on an airplane, allowing controlled, repeated exposure to the feared situation in a safe setting. This technology-based exposure treatment is best called what?
- Biofeedback
- Electroconvulsive therapy
- Virtual reality exposure therapy
- Aversion therapy
Correct answer: Virtual reality exposure therapy
Virtual reality exposure therapy is the correct answer because it uses simulated environments to expose a client to feared situations safely and repeatedly. The use of a headset to recreate flying for controlled exposure to the fear defines this modern exposure method.
- A person with post-traumatic stress disorder recalls the traumatic memory while following a therapist's moving finger with their eyes, a controversial technique intended to reduce the memory's distress. This therapy is best identified as which of the following?
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
- Cognitive restructuring
- Free association
- Systematic desensitization
Correct answer: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is the correct answer because it has clients recall traumatic memories while making guided eye movements, a debated treatment for PTSD. The pairing of trauma recall with following the therapist's moving finger identifies this specific technique.
- A long-term antipsychotic user develops involuntary repetitive movements of the face, such as lip smacking and tongue protrusions, as a side effect of the medication. This movement-related side effect is best called what?
- Flat affect
- Catatonia
- Tardive dyskinesia
- Tremor of withdrawal
Correct answer: Tardive dyskinesia
Tardive dyskinesia is the correct answer because it is a side effect of long-term antipsychotic use marked by involuntary, repetitive movements, often of the face and mouth. The lip smacking and tongue movements after prolonged medication reflect this drug-induced condition rather than a symptom of the disorder itself.
- Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, large numbers of patients were released from mental hospitals into community care, partly because new antipsychotic drugs made outpatient treatment more feasible. This large-scale release of patients is best called what?
- Hospitalization
- Commitment
- Rehabilitation
- Deinstitutionalization
Correct answer: Deinstitutionalization
Deinstitutionalization is the correct answer because it refers to the movement to release patients from long-term psychiatric hospitals into community-based care. The mass discharge of patients enabled partly by antipsychotic medication describes this historical shift in mental health treatment.
- A patient repeatedly seeks tests and doctor visits for vague physical complaints like fatigue and pain that cause great distress and consume much time, even when no medical cause fully explains them. This pattern best fits which disorder?
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Dissociative amnesia
- Somatic symptom disorder
- Major depressive disorder
Correct answer: Somatic symptom disorder
Somatic symptom disorder is the correct answer because it involves distressing physical symptoms accompanied by excessive thoughts, feelings, and time devoted to them, often without a clear medical cause. The patient's persistent distress and doctor seeking over unexplained bodily complaints matches this disorder.
- A coworker constantly demands admiration, exaggerates his achievements, believes he is uniquely special, and shows little empathy for others. This long-standing pattern best fits which personality disorder?
- Avoidant personality disorder
- Narcissistic personality disorder
- Borderline personality disorder
- Antisocial personality disorder
Correct answer: Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder is the correct answer because it features grandiosity, a need for admiration, and lack of empathy. The coworker's constant demands for admiration, inflated sense of importance, and disregard for others' feelings define this pattern rather than emotional instability or fear of judgment.
- A person is dramatic and theatrical, constantly seeks to be the center of attention, and expresses shifting, exaggerated emotions to draw notice from others. This long-standing pattern best fits which personality disorder?
- Paranoid personality disorder
- Schizoid personality disorder
- Histrionic personality disorder
- Dependent personality disorder
Correct answer: Histrionic personality disorder
Histrionic personality disorder is the correct answer because it is marked by excessive emotionality and attention seeking, with dramatic, exaggerated behavior. The person's theatrical displays and constant need to be noticed reflect this pattern rather than detachment or suspicion of others.
- An adult struggles to make even small everyday decisions without excessive reassurance, clings to relationships, and fears being left to care for himself. This long-standing pattern best fits which personality disorder?
- Dependent personality disorder
- Schizotypal personality disorder
- Narcissistic personality disorder
- Antisocial personality disorder
Correct answer: Dependent personality disorder
Dependent personality disorder is the correct answer because it involves an excessive need to be taken care of, submissive clinging behavior, and fear of separation. The adult's inability to make decisions without reassurance and fear of being on his own define this pattern rather than callousness or grandiosity.
- A person is preoccupied with unfounded suspicions that friends and coworkers are deceiving or exploiting her, reads hidden threats into harmless remarks, and bears grudges. This long-standing pattern best fits which personality disorder?
- Histrionic personality disorder
- Borderline personality disorder
- Avoidant personality disorder
- Paranoid personality disorder
Correct answer: Paranoid personality disorder
Paranoid personality disorder is the correct answer because it is characterized by pervasive distrust and suspicion of others' motives without sufficient basis. The person's chronic unfounded suspicions, reading of threats into innocent comments, and grudge holding define this pattern rather than dramatic or unstable behavior.
- A man consistently prefers solitary activities, shows little interest in close relationships, and appears emotionally cold and detached, neither desiring nor enjoying social ties. This long-standing pattern best fits which personality disorder?
- Dependent personality disorder
- Schizoid personality disorder
- Avoidant personality disorder
- Histrionic personality disorder
Correct answer: Schizoid personality disorder
Schizoid personality disorder is the correct answer because it involves detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotional expression. The man's preference for solitude, lack of interest in closeness, and emotional coldness define this pattern rather than fear of rejection, which marks avoidant personality disorder.
- A person desperately wants relationships but avoids social situations because she is overwhelmed by fear of criticism and rejection, viewing herself as inadequate. This long-standing pattern best fits which personality disorder?
- Schizoid personality disorder
- Avoidant personality disorder
- Antisocial personality disorder
- Paranoid personality disorder
Correct answer: Avoidant personality disorder
Avoidant personality disorder is the correct answer because it features social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to criticism despite a desire for closeness. The person's longing for relationships paired with avoidance driven by fear of rejection distinguishes it from schizoid personality disorder, where social ties are simply not desired.
- A person who is not underweight repeatedly eats unusually large amounts of food in short periods while feeling a loss of control, but does not regularly purge or compensate afterward. This pattern best fits which disorder?
- Bulimia nervosa
- Somatic symptom disorder
- Anorexia nervosa
- Binge-eating disorder
Correct answer: Binge-eating disorder
Binge-eating disorder is the correct answer because it involves recurrent episodes of eating large amounts with a sense of loss of control, but without the regular compensatory behaviors seen in bulimia. The absence of purging and the lack of underweight status distinguish it from both bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa.
- When a person perceives a sudden threat, the sympathetic nervous system triggers a rapid heartbeat, quickened breathing, and a surge of energy preparing them to confront or escape the danger. This immediate physiological reaction is best called what?
- The fight-or-flight response
- Catharsis
- Tend-and-befriend
- The general adaptation syndrome
Correct answer: The fight-or-flight response
The fight-or-flight response is the correct answer because it is the immediate sympathetic-nervous-system arousal that prepares the body to confront or flee a threat. The surge in heart rate, breathing, and energy upon facing sudden danger describes this acute reaction rather than the longer multi-stage stress sequence.
- Research suggests that under stress, some people, more often women, respond by nurturing those around them and seeking out social bonds rather than fighting or fleeing. This alternative stress response is best called what?
- Fight-or-flight
- Learned helplessness
- General adaptation syndrome
- Tend-and-befriend
Correct answer: Tend-and-befriend
Tend-and-befriend is the correct answer because it describes a stress response of seeking social support and caring for others rather than confronting or escaping the stressor. The pattern of nurturing and bonding under stress, noted more often in women, defines this concept rather than the classic confront-or-flee reaction.
- A patient who believes she can influence her recovery through her own choices and actions tends to cope better with illness than one who feels her health is entirely out of her hands. The belief that one can influence one's own outcomes is best called what?
- Learned helplessness
- Perceived control
- Adaptation level
- External locus of control
Correct answer: Perceived control
Perceived control is the correct answer because it is the sense that one can influence one's own circumstances and outcomes, which is associated with better coping and health. The patient who believes her actions shape her recovery has high perceived control, in contrast to feeling that health is beyond her influence.
- In Seligman's research, dogs repeatedly exposed to inescapable shocks later failed to escape even when escape became possible, having seemingly given up. This passive resignation learned from uncontrollable events is best called what?
- Catharsis
- Tend-and-befriend
- Learned helplessness
- Spontaneous recovery
Correct answer: Learned helplessness
Learned helplessness is the correct answer because it is the passive giving-up that develops after experiencing events one cannot control, as shown in Seligman's dog studies. The animals' failure to escape once escape was possible, after earlier inescapable shocks, defines this concept and is linked to depression in humans.
- A person who habitually interprets setbacks as temporary, specific, and not their fault tends to be more resilient and healthier than someone who sees failures as permanent and pervasive. This characteristic way of explaining events is best called one's what?
- Explanatory style
- Set point
- Adaptation level
- Locus of control
Correct answer: Explanatory style
Explanatory style is the correct answer because it is a person's habitual way of interpreting the causes of events, which can be optimistic or pessimistic. Viewing setbacks as temporary and specific reflects an optimistic explanatory style associated with greater resilience and better health.
- Studies in psychoneuroimmunology have found that during periods of intense or prolonged stress, the body's ability to fight infection declines and wounds heal more slowly. This effect of stress on the body's defenses is best described as stress-related what?
- Tardive dyskinesia
- Sensory adaptation
- Immune suppression
- Spontaneous remission
Correct answer: Immune suppression
Immune suppression is the correct answer because prolonged stress can weaken the immune system, reducing resistance to infection and slowing healing. The decline in disease-fighting capacity and slower wound healing during stress reflects this dampening of immune function studied in psychoneuroimmunology.
- Long-term studies link chronic stress and persistent hostility to the buildup of plaques in the arteries that supply the heart, raising the risk of heart attacks. The leading cause of death that is worsened by such chronic stress is best identified as what?
- Tardive dyskinesia
- Bipolar disorder
- Dissociative disorder
- Coronary heart disease
Correct answer: Coronary heart disease
Coronary heart disease is the correct answer because chronic stress and hostility contribute to the clogging of the heart's arteries, increasing heart-attack risk. The connection between long-term stress, artery plaque buildup, and a leading cause of death points to this cardiovascular condition.
- Research on daily mood finds that people are more likely to help others when they are in a good mood, a tendency captured by a well-known phenomenon in the study of well-being. This effect is best called the what?
- Mere exposure effect
- Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
- Bystander effect
- Adaptation-level phenomenon
Correct answer: Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
The feel-good, do-good phenomenon is the correct answer because it describes the tendency to be more helpful toward others when one is in a positive mood. The link between being in a good mood and increased helping behavior defines this well-being concept rather than adapting to circumstances.
- After losing his home in a disaster, a man experiences hardship but recovers his emotional balance and even grows from the experience, adapting well despite adversity. This capacity to bounce back from serious stress is best called what?
- Catharsis
- Regression
- Resilience
- Learned helplessness
Correct answer: Resilience
Resilience is the correct answer because it is the capacity to adapt successfully and recover psychologically in the face of significant adversity. The man's ability to regain his emotional footing and even grow after major loss illustrates resilience rather than giving up or releasing emotion.
- To reduce stress, a person practices a technique of focusing attention on the present moment in a nonjudgmental, accepting way, often while attending to the breath. This increasingly popular practice is best called what?
- Mindfulness meditation
- Free association
- Biofeedback
- Aversion therapy
Correct answer: Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation is the correct answer because it involves nonjudgmental, present-moment awareness, often centered on the breath, and is used to reduce stress. The deliberate, accepting focus on the present moment defines this practice rather than a psychoanalytic or conditioning technique.
- A person learns to lower her stress by watching a monitor that displays her muscle tension and heart rate, gradually gaining voluntary control over these normally automatic body responses. This stress-management technique is best called what?
- Systematic desensitization
- Token economy
- Biofeedback
- Flooding
Correct answer: Biofeedback
Biofeedback is the correct answer because it uses electronic monitoring of bodily functions like muscle tension and heart rate to help a person learn to control them. The use of a monitor to gain voluntary influence over normally automatic responses defines this technique for managing stress.
- Studies show that people who regularly engage in sustained, oxygen-using exercise such as running or swimming tend to report lower levels of depression and anxiety. The type of exercise linked to these mood benefits is best called what?
- Passive relaxation
- Isometric stretching
- Anaerobic lifting only
- Aerobic exercise
Correct answer: Aerobic exercise
Aerobic exercise is the correct answer because sustained oxygen-using activity such as running or swimming is associated with reduced depression and anxiety. The link between regular oxygen-demanding exercise and improved mood points specifically to aerobic exercise as a buffer against stress and low mood.
- A humanistic therapist accepts and values a client fully and without conditions, regardless of what the client says or does, to create a safe climate for growth. This attitude central to Rogers's approach is best called what?
- Catharsis
- Unconditional positive regard
- Cognitive restructuring
- Transference
Correct answer: Unconditional positive regard
Unconditional positive regard is the correct answer because it is Rogers's idea of accepting and valuing a person completely without conditions to foster growth. The therapist's full, nonjudgmental acceptance of the client regardless of behavior defines this core element of client-centered therapy.
- Therapies such as psychoanalysis and client-centered therapy share the goal of helping clients gain greater self-understanding and awareness of their feelings and motives. As a group, these approaches are best called what?
- Behavior therapies
- Insight therapies
- Token economies
- Biomedical therapies
Correct answer: Insight therapies
Insight therapies is the correct answer because it is the umbrella term for treatments, including psychoanalysis and client-centered therapy, that aim to increase self-awareness and understanding. The shared goal of fostering insight into one's feelings and motives groups these approaches together, in contrast to behavioral or biomedical methods.
- A man is preoccupied with the unfounded fear that he has a serious, undiagnosed disease, repeatedly checking his body and seeking reassurance despite normal medical findings. This excessive worry about having a major illness best fits which disorder?
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Somatic symptom disorder
- Illness anxiety disorder
Correct answer: Illness anxiety disorder
Illness anxiety disorder is the correct answer because it centers on excessive preoccupation with having or developing a serious illness, with few or no actual physical symptoms. The man's persistent fear of an undiagnosed disease and reassurance seeking despite normal findings define this disorder rather than distress over present physical symptoms.
- A surgeon in the mid-twentieth century severs neural connections to a patient's frontal lobes in an attempt to calm severe agitation, a now-abandoned and controversial procedure. This irreversible removal or destruction of brain tissue to change behavior is best described as
- Psychosurgery
- Electroconvulsive therapy
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation
- Systematic desensitization
Correct answer: Psychosurgery
Psychosurgery is the correct answer because it involves surgically removing or destroying brain tissue to alter behavior or mood, as in the historical lobotomy. Severing connections to the frontal lobes to calm a patient is this irreversible biomedical intervention, unlike the temporary current of electroconvulsive therapy or the noninvasive magnetic pulses of transcranial magnetic stimulation.
- To treat a depressed client who has not responded to medication, a clinician applies repeated magnetic pulses to the surface of the scalp to stimulate the underlying brain regions without surgery or seizures. This noninvasive biomedical treatment is best described as
- Electroconvulsive therapy
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation
- Psychosurgery
- A token economy
Correct answer: Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is the correct answer because it uses repeated magnetic pulses applied to the scalp to stimulate brain activity without surgery or inducing a seizure. The clinician delivering noninvasive magnetic pulses to treat resistant depression reflects this technique, unlike electroconvulsive therapy, which deliberately induces a seizure.
- A clinician notes that a single client meets the criteria for both major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder at the same time. The simultaneous presence of two or more disorders in the same person is best described as
- Comorbidity
- Remission
- The diathesis-stress model
- Diagnostic labeling bias
Correct answer: Comorbidity
Comorbidity is the correct answer because it refers to the co-occurrence of two or more disorders in the same individual at the same time. The client meeting criteria for both depression and an anxiety disorder simultaneously is this overlap, distinct from remission, which is the easing of symptoms.
- A psychologist studies why some children who grow up amid poverty and violence still develop into healthy, well-adjusted adults despite their hardships. This capacity to adapt successfully and recover in the face of significant adversity is best described as
- Learned helplessness
- The placebo effect
- Resilience
- Regression
Correct answer: Resilience
Resilience is the correct answer because it is the ability to adapt and bounce back from serious stress, trauma, or adversity. Children thriving despite poverty and violence demonstrate this protective capacity, the opposite of learned helplessness, in which uncontrollable stress produces passivity.
- In studying classroom behavior, a teacher observes that one student's conduct departs sharply from what is considered acceptable or typical for the surrounding culture. When deciding whether behavior is disordered, this departure from social and cultural standards is the criterion of
- Distress
- Deviance
- Dysfunction
- Danger
Correct answer: Deviance
Deviance is the correct answer because, among the criteria for abnormality, it refers to behavior that significantly differs from a culture's accepted norms or standards. The student's conduct departing sharply from cultural expectations reflects this criterion, distinct from dysfunction, which concerns interference with daily functioning.
- Dogs that received inescapable shocks later failed to escape shock even when escape became possible, simply giving up. When this pattern of passive resignation after repeated uncontrollable events is used to help explain human depression, it is called
- The general adaptation syndrome
- Learned helplessness
- The diathesis-stress model
- Catharsis
Correct answer: Learned helplessness
Learned helplessness is the correct answer because it describes the passive giving-up that develops after exposure to uncontrollable aversive events, an influential explanation for depression. Animals failing to escape avoidable shock after earlier inescapable shock illustrate this concept, unlike the general adaptation syndrome, which describes physical stress stages.
- A grieving woman repeatedly dwells on the same negative thoughts about her loss, replaying them over and over without resolution, which deepens and prolongs her low mood. This repetitive overthinking of distressing themes that can worsen depression is best described as
- Transference
- Problem-focused coping
- The adaptation-level phenomenon
- Rumination
Correct answer: Rumination
Rumination is the correct answer because it is the repetitive, passive focusing on negative thoughts and feelings that can intensify and prolong depression. The woman replaying the same distressing thoughts without resolution reflects this pattern, unlike problem-focused coping, which actively addresses the source of distress.
- After a near-collision while driving, a person's heart pounds, breathing quickens, and muscles tense as the body mobilizes to confront or escape the threat. This rapid physiological arousal preparing the body for emergency action is best described as the
- Fight-or-flight response
- Adaptation-level phenomenon
- Placebo effect
- Tend-and-befriend response
Correct answer: Fight-or-flight response
The fight-or-flight response is the correct answer because it is the body's automatic mobilization of arousal, including increased heart rate and breathing, to confront or flee a threat. The driver's racing heart and tensed muscles after a near-collision reflect this emergency response, distinct from the tend-and-befriend pattern of seeking social connection.
- A person believes their daily efforts and choices, rather than luck or powerful others, mostly determine what happens to them, and this belief is linked to better health and lower stress. This generalized expectancy about personal control is best described as an
- External locus of control
- Internal locus of control
- Emotion-focused coping style
- Adaptation-level baseline
Correct answer: Internal locus of control
Internal locus of control is the correct answer because it is the belief that one's own actions and decisions largely determine outcomes, a perception tied to better coping and health. The person crediting their own efforts rather than luck reflects this orientation, the opposite of an external locus of control, which attributes outcomes to outside forces.
- A person repeatedly eats unusually large amounts of food in a short time while feeling a loss of control, experiencing distress afterward, but does not regularly purge or fast to compensate. This pattern is best classified as
- Anorexia nervosa
- Bulimia nervosa
- Binge-eating disorder
- Persistent depressive disorder
Correct answer: Binge-eating disorder
Binge-eating disorder is the correct answer because it involves recurrent episodes of eating large amounts with a sense of lost control and distress, but without the regular compensatory behaviors seen in bulimia. The person bingeing without purging or fasting fits this diagnosis rather than bulimia nervosa, which includes compensatory acts.
- A client shows a long-standing pattern of grandiosity, a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others, believing they are uniquely special and entitled. This pattern is best classified as which personality disorder?
- Borderline personality disorder
- Narcissistic personality disorder
- Antisocial personality disorder
- Avoidant personality disorder
Correct answer: Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder is the correct answer because it is marked by grandiosity, a strong need for admiration, and limited empathy. The client's inflated self-importance, craving for admiration, and disregard for others' feelings fit this disorder, distinct from borderline personality disorder's emotional instability and fear of abandonment.
- A treatment program brings parents and children into sessions together to improve communication and change the unhealthy interaction patterns within the household. This approach, which treats the household as an interconnected system, is best described as
- Individual psychoanalysis
- Aversion therapy
- A token economy
- Family therapy
Correct answer: Family therapy
Family therapy is the correct answer because it treats family members together and focuses on changing the relationships and interaction patterns within the family system. Bringing parents and children into joint sessions to improve communication reflects this systemic approach, unlike individual psychoanalysis, which works with one client alone.
- Rather than committing to a single school of thought, a therapist selects techniques from psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic traditions to fit each client's particular needs. This flexible, multi-method orientation is best described as an
- Eclectic approach
- Exclusively biomedical approach
- Strictly behavioral approach
- Exclusively psychoanalytic approach
Correct answer: Eclectic approach
An eclectic approach is the correct answer because it draws on techniques from multiple therapeutic traditions and tailors them to each client rather than adhering to one model. The therapist blending psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic methods reflects this flexible orientation, unlike a strictly single-school approach.
- A client receiving relaxation training is connected to a monitor that displays their muscle tension and heart rate, giving them real-time signals so they can learn to consciously lower these physical responses to stress. This technique using bodily feedback to gain control over physiological states is best described as
- Flooding
- Biofeedback
- Free association
- Electroconvulsive therapy
Correct answer: Biofeedback
Biofeedback is the correct answer because it provides real-time information about bodily functions such as muscle tension and heart rate so a person can learn to control them. The client watching monitored signals to consciously reduce tension and heart rate reflects this technique, unlike flooding, which is an intense exposure method for fear.
- In Rogers's client-centered therapy, the therapist accepts and values the client as a person without conditions or judgment, no matter what the client reveals. This attitude of total, nonjudgmental acceptance is best described as
- Transference
- Cognitive restructuring
- Unconditional positive regard
- Systematic desensitization
Correct answer: Unconditional positive regard
Unconditional positive regard is the correct answer because it is the therapist's full, nonjudgmental acceptance and valuing of the client central to client-centered therapy. The therapist accepting the client without conditions regardless of what is disclosed reflects this attitude, distinct from transference, in which the client redirects feelings onto the therapist.
